Does federal COBRA apply to domestic partners?

While domestic partners are not "qualified beneficiaries" under COBRA, and therefore have no right to elect individual continuation coverage, a current or ex-employee (the qualified beneficiary) who elects COBRA coverage may also elect to continue coverage for a domestic partner who was on the plan the day before the qualifying event. Additionally, the qualified beneficiary would have the same rights as others on the group health plan to add or remove a domestic partner from his or her coverage.

Although domestic partners are not qualified beneficiaries entitled to individual coverage, employers offering domestic partner benefits may design the plan to provide them with COBRA-like health care continuation benefits. Of course, fully insured plans must have this approved by the insurance carrier and all plans must be amended to include such language. Employers are cautioned to consult with legal counsel regarding such wording to avoid the implication of providing COBRA rights and responsibilities to such partners.  

In addition, consideration should be given to when such COBRA-like continuation will apply to domestic partners. For instance, consider the following situations:

• Does the employer intend to offer COBRA-like coverage to the former partner of an employee whose domestic partner relationship has ended?
• Does the employer intend to offer COBRA-like coverage to a new domestic partner of the employee's former partner (if a subsequent qualifying event occurs during the continuation period)?

Employers choosing to offer COBRA-like benefits to domestic partners generally follow the same coverage, notice and premium rules for continuous coverage for married couples for ease of administration. Note that employers subject to state mini-COBRA regulations should determine employer responsibilities separately from federal COBRA laws.