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COBRA for newborn baby
Hi - I have a qualified beneficiary who has been on our COBRA plan for the last few months. He and his wife are both covered and they pay their premiums promptly. On Sept 21 they had a baby and elected to go from Employee/Spouse to Employee/Family. They did not realize how much the increased premium was going to be and, upon receiving the bill, called me (the group administrator) to ask if they could maintain coverage on the spouse and child only so that they could get the employee/child(ren) rate, which they could afford. I made this request to our insurance co. on 10/18/04, well within 30 days of the birth of the baby. Unfortunately, I had already made the request to change them to family coverage. When I asked to have it changed to cover only the spouse and baby I was told that because they elected family coverage the first time they are now locked into it and have to either drop coverage or pay the family rate. My question is, don't they have 30 days from the date of the event to make a decision or change their minds or did their time run out the minute they made the family election? Appreciate any advice you can give us.