Benefits Q. 2006;22(4):72-4.
Even though an insurer provided telephone notice of termination of a group health plan's insurance coverage for failure to pay the required premium on the same day the employer filed a bankruptcy petition and gave written notice after the petition was filed, it did not violate the bankruptcy code's automatic stay provision. This is because a special payment plan provided for an extended grace period and automatic termination upon failure to pay the premium in full by the end of that period, and the final due date was before the debtor filed the petition. Thus, termination occurred automatically before the bankruptcy petition was filed. The insurer is not the plan administrator and is not obligated to provide COBRA notice to the debtor's employees, especially since the employees could not elect to continue coverage under a group health plan when the insurance coverage had been terminated. An employee's right to elect to continue coverage under the employer's group plan presumes there is coverage available to continue.
尽管保险公司在雇主提交破产申请当日就因未支付所需保费而提供了团体健康保险计划保险覆盖终止的电话通知，并在申请提交后发出了书面通知，但这并未违反破产法典的自动中止条款。这是因为一项特别付款计划规定了延长的宽限期，并在该期限结束前未全额支付保费时自动终止，而最终到期日在债务人提交申请之前。因此，终止在破产申请提交之前就自动发生了。保险公司不是计划管理人，没有义务向债务人的雇员提供《综合预算协调法案》（COBRA）通知，特别是因为当保险覆盖已终止时，雇员无法选择继续参加团体健康保险计划。雇员选择继续参加雇主团体计划的保险的权利是以有可供继续的保险覆盖为前提的。
