Joseph Romano Law

An adolescent was operating a riding lawn mower that malfunctioned and caused an amputation. The adolescent was covered under his parents' health insurance policy paid by the father's employer. The employer down-sized and the father was laid off. The employer failed to notify the father of his COBRA rights, and the insurance coverage was cancelled due to non-payment of the COBRA premium. The adolescent was not able to obtain a "state-of-the art" prosthesis. In this case, I was successful in arguing that, since the employer did not give the father proper notice of his COBRA rights, the parent should be able to retroactively pay the premium for COBRA benefits and continue the coverage.

You should carefully examine your COBRA rights when there has been a change in your employment, especially if a member of your family is receiving health-care benefits as a result of a catastrophic illness or injury.