Arizona employers with fewer than 20 employees need to be ready for a new state law requiring them to offer continuation of health insurance benefits for employees and their dependents. The new law applies to health benefits plans sponsored by small employers that are issued or renewed after December 31, 2018.
Under the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985—known as COBRA—many workers and their families have the right to choose to continue benefits provided by their group health insurance plans for limited periods of time under certain circumstances, including voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events.
