View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 1210-0123	ICR Reference No: 201307-1210-001
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 201304-1210-012
Agency/Subagency: DOL/EBSA	Agency Tracking No:
Title: Notice Requirements of the Health Care Continuation Coverage Provisions
Type of Information Collection: Extension without change of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved without change	Conclusion Date: 10/25/2013
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 09/25/2013
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	10/31/2016	36 Months From Approved	10/31/2013
Responses	20,712,556	0	15,662,333
Time Burden (Hours)	0	0	503,815
Cost Burden (Dollars)	26,554,404	0	20,217,778

Abstract: The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) provides that under certain circumstances participants and beneficiaries of group health plans that satisfy the definition of qualified beneficiaries under COBRA may elect to continue group health coverage temporarily following events known as qualifying events that would otherwise result in loss of coverage. COBRA provides that the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) has the authority under section 608 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to carry out the provisions of Part 6 of title I of ERISA. The Conference Report that accompanied COBRA authorized the Secretary to issue regulations implementing the notice and disclosure requirements of COBRA. Under the regulatory guidelines, plan administrators are required to distribute notices as follows: a general notice to be distributed to all participants in group health plans subject to COBRA; an employer notice that must be completed by the employer upon the occurrence of a qualifying event; a notice and election form to be sent to a participant upon the occurrence of a qualifying event that might cause the participant to lose group health coverage; an employee notice that may be completed by a qualified beneficiary upon the occurrence of certain qualifying events such as divorce or disability; and, two other notices, one of early termination and the other a notice of unavailability. Also included in the ICR are two model notices that the Department believes will help reduce costs for service providers in preparing and delivering notices to comply with the regulations. On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, Public Law 111-5. ARRA includes a requirement that the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary), in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Health and Human Services, develop model notices. These models are for use by group health plans and other entities that, pursuant to ARRA, must provide notices of the availability of premium reductions and additional election periods for health care continuation coverage.

Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 29 USC 1166 Name of Law: Employee Retirement Income Security Act

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	78 FR 30333	05/22/2013
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	78 FR 59065	09/25/2013
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 1

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
Notice Requirements of the Health Care Continuation Coverage Provisions

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate
Annual Number of Responses	20,712,556	15,662,333	5,050,223
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	0	503,815	-503,815
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	26,554,404	20,217,778	6,336,626

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: The increases in PRA cost burden are due to updates in labor and postage costs related to inflation. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act permits dependents up to age 26 to remain on their parents' health insurance policies. This statutory change took effect prior to the previous submission; however, this change was inadvertently not factored into cost estimates at that time. A sizable increase in the number of dependents living outside the household is evident in this submission. As an upper-bound estimate of the impact of the statutory change, the Department determined that 1.7 million dependents living outside the home were aged 19 to 25 and had never married. Many of these individuals would not have fallen under this ICR prior to enactment of the ACA. The cost associated with these individuals was approximately $807,000. Finally, the previous PRA submission counted service provider labor hours as hour burden, which resulted in double-counting the labor cost, because the labor cost was also included in the cost burden. Upon further consideration, the agency has concluded that, because outside service providers are expected to absorb all of the burden, the costs in this submission should be counted as maintenance and operations cost burdens, and not as hour burden.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $0

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Is the Supporting Statement intended to be a Privacy Impact Assessment required by the E-Government Act of 2002? No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? Yes

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? Uncollected

Agency Contact: Chris Cosby 202 693-8540

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