Change font size
It is currently Mon Sep 06, 2010 10:47 am


Post a new topicPost a reply Page 1 of 1   [ 9 posts ]
Author Message
 Post subject: COBRA Administration Vendors
PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2009 1:29 pm 
Board Newbie

Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 12:54 pm
Posts: 9
Location: New York, NY
Does anyone have any good advice on third party COBRA Administration vendors? We currently have ADP and they flat out suck. I spend more time administering and answering questions from terminated employees because ADP can't help them.

We are a small company, less than 150 employees.

Thanks!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2009 1:36 pm 
Board Guru

Joined: Wed May 28, 2003 10:23 am
Posts: 1377
Location: Portland, OR
Why do you want to outsource it when you are so small? Do you have a lot of turnover? Do you have many people currently on COBRA? We have 350 employees and we just do it in house. With the money you are spending on outsourcing, you could afford to go to a good seminar, or buy a good manual (EBIA) and just do it yourself.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: I agree
PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2009 2:01 pm 
Board Newbie

Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 1:35 pm
Posts: 2
Location: Atlanta, GA
Mindy wrote:
Why do you want to outsource it when you are so small? Do you have a lot of turnover? Do you have many people currently on COBRA? We have 350 employees and we just do it in house. With the money you are spending on outsourcing, you could afford to go to a good seminar, or buy a good manual (EBIA) and just do it yourself.


I've had up to 500 employees and have always administered it myself. I never even bought a manual.

I looked up the Cobra Laws online and created documentation and forms to send to my terminated employees.

Created Excel spreadsheets to track mailings and payments, while using my Outlook Task Manager to remind me of date/deadlines and payments due, etc.

Some sites even had forms already available for free downloads.

I don't trust outsourcing for this and to be very honest, a lot of terminated employees don't sign up for Cobra because of cost, therefore there's not a whole lot to do, outside of sending initial notifications.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 8:32 am 
Board Newbie

Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 12:54 pm
Posts: 9
Location: New York, NY
Is there anyone who uses a TPA that has some suggestions? Or even an inhouse COBRA system that works well?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: COBRA Administration Vendors
PostPosted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:12 am 
Board Newbie

Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:58 am
Posts: 17
Our COBRA administration is nice simply because it is bundled with our medical provider. We enter the employees that elect benefits into their website and when they term we enter that and the medical provider handles the mailings and the payments. It's a bit too easy.

We're a company of 125 employees.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: COBRA Administration Vendors
PostPosted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 2:27 pm 
Regular Contributor

Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 10:53 am
Posts: 153
When I did benefits admin, I had ADP HR Profile. I was able to set up non-payroll companies and enter info on "employees" . I set up a COBRA company and was able to track my beneficiaries there and use Reportsmith to report on them.

_________________
M Michaels
Payroll Coordinator


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: COBRA Administration Vendors
PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:32 am 
Regular Contributor

Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:19 am
Posts: 522
Location: my little world
We used a provider out of Wisconsin -- TASC or CobraToday. They were amazing. I highly recommend them. It was about $400 per year...well worth it.

Now we are using a local provider through our benefits broker and they are ok, but I wouldn't recommend them. I end up doing more admin then I would like to keep them updated. But they did do a good job with the COBRA ARRA changes. Sometimes I do think it would just be easier to bring it in-house, but that would mean doing all the initial setup of documentation and systems. Just not worth it right now since we pay less than $100 a year.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: COBRA Administration Vendors
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:35 pm 
Board Newbie

Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:30 am
Posts: 6
Location: Rochester, MN
We are a smaller company as well - just under 300 employees. We currently use Acclaim Benefits out of Minneapolis and their COBRA administration has been great, especially their help in explaining and changing processes for the recent subsidy.

Not sure how much we spend a year on them, however; I believe we pay per service.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: COBRA Administration Vendors
PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:50 am 
Regular Contributor

Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:44 pm
Posts: 74
Location: Texas
A few companies ago, I used CobraServ, and they were cheap, efficient, and hit all the basics- initial notices, QE notices, continuation enrollments, payments, etc. They've since been bought out by Ceridian, so I can't speak to the service today, but they might be worth a look.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post a new topicPost a reply Page 1 of 1   [ 9 posts ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


Quick-mod tools:
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
[ Moderator Control Panel ]


Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
610nm Style by Daniel St. Jules of Gamexe.net

Translated by Maël Soucaze © 2009 phpBB.fr