COBRA Letter Generation (SAP Library - Benefits Administration (PA-BN))

COBRA Letter Generation

Use

Once you have collected COBRA events, you use this function to print a COBRA letter for qualified beneficiaries. The following are included in a COBRA letter:

Notice of the right to coverage continuation under COBRA
COBRA election form(s)
Enrollment form(s)

If a large number of events require processing, you can run letter generation in the background.

Prerequisites

You have collected COBRA events to provide the data necessary for personalizing COBRA letters.

You have set up form templates in the Benefits Administration Implementation Guide in the section COBRA ® Form Setup.

Features

In addition to generating letters, the COBRA Letters function also does the following automatically:

Creates a COBRA-Qualified Beneficiary record (infotype 0211) for all qualified beneficiaries

These records are valid from the event date until the end of the COBRA period.

Creates records of dependents of COBRA-qualified beneficiaries (table T74AB)

This table is used to determine the possible dependents of qualified beneficiaries during COBRA enrollment.

Delimits the relevant Health Plan records (infotype 0167) and/or Flexible Spending Accounts records (infotype 0170) in the background, according to the appropriate termination rule for the plans

For more information on the use of termination rules, see Termination of Participation in Regular Plans.

Deletes the processed events from the internal buffer (table T5UDB)

Activities

Dependents

After the events Divorce and Legal separation, the system initially considers all (step)children that were covered in an employee's health plan to be COBRA-qualified beneficiaries, and shows them in the list of dependents that have lost regular coverage. For health flexible spending accounts (FSAs), the system includes in the list those dependents that have experienced these events and, according to Customizing, can qualify for COBRA coverage in FSAs. The dependent eligibility variant assigned to the relevant FSA plans in the Benefits Administration Implementation Guide in the step COBRA ® Choose COBRA Spending Accounts determines which types of dependents can qualify.

Before you print letters, you must, therefore, remove from the list of dependents any children that will remain covered with the employee in regular benefits plans rather than with the employee's former spouse under COBRA. The same applies to the children of a domestic partner in the case of a separation (if your organization recognizes this as a qualifying event).

Coverage Options

The coverage option of a COBRA-relevant health plan is automatically adjusted for continued regular plan coverage if dependents, but not the employee, lose coverage after a qualifying event and the minimum number of dependents for the original coverage option is no longer available. This can be the case after the event types Divorce, Legal separation, and Child's loss of dependent status.

The total minimum number of dependents required and maximum number allowed for a dependent coverage option is defined in the Benefits Administration Implementation Guide in the steps Plans ® Health Plans ® Define Dependent Coverage Options. Minimum and maximum numbers for specific types of dependent can be defined in the step Define Minimum and Maximum Number of Dependents.

Letters

The number of COBRA letters that the system prints for each event depends on the current address(es) of the individual COBRA beneficiaries:

If the employee is one of the beneficiaries and no separate addresses are recorded for dependents on their Family/Related Persons infotype (0021), a letter is printed for the employee and all dependents living at his/her address.
If only the spouse and children are beneficiaries and no separate addresses are recorded for dependents on their Family/Related Persons infotype (0021), a letter is printed for the spouse and all children living at the spouse's address.
If children are beneficiaries and have addresses other than the employee/spouse address stored on their Family/Related Persons infotype (0021), a letter is printed for each child with a separate address.

The following table shows the number of forms printed for each individual letter:

Form	Number Printed
Notice of COBRA rights	One per address
COBRA election form	One per beneficiary
Enrollment form	One per beneficiary