Creating a COBRA Benefits - ACA Reporting Record

The COBRA Benefits - ACA Reporting (CBN) transaction allows you to track the COBRA benefit types and plans in which a COBRA Qualified Beneficiary and/or Covered Individual is enrolled.

For example, if an employee is currently enrolled in a medical benefit that is COBRA eligible when a COBRA event occurs (for instance, the employee gets divorced), and the ex-spouse elects COBRA coverage for herself and their children. Therefore, the ex-spouse's medical benefit, as well as the children’s will be expired and COBRA Benefits (CBN) transactions will be created for the ex-spouse and for each of the children to track which deduction type and plan the ex-spouse and the children are enrolled in since the employee is paying for the COBRA coverage, as per the divorce decree.

To access the COBRA Benefits - ACA Reporting (CBN) transaction and track COBRA benefit types and plans, from the COBRA Management (COBRA) activity folder, perform the following steps:

Select the appropriate employee from the grid that appears on the main page of the COBRA Management (COBRA) activity folder.
Select COBRA Benefits (ACA Reporting) from the secondary navigation panel. Result: The page displays a grid that lists the Qualified Beneficiaries/Covered Individuals.
Select Create COBRA Benefits. Result: The header of the COBRA Benefits - ACA Reporting page is displayed.
Select the Individual section from the secondary navigation panel.

Select Insert New Line.
Select the Qualified Beneficiary and/or Covered Individual. The Qualified Beneficiary can be the Employee. If the employee is the qualified beneficiary, leave this field blank. If the dependent is the qualified beneficiary, enter the Dependent ID. If an identification number is entered, the qualified beneficiary’s full name is displayed.
If the person has not already been entered in the system, enter the First, Middle, and Last Name.

Select the COBRA Attribute Maintenance Detail tab.
Select Insert New Line.
Complete the General Information section. Define the Benefit Type/Plan as well as the Coverage Start/End dates.
Complete the Mailing Address section. If the qualified beneficiary was not already entered into the system or needs their address updated, define the address to which the IRS Form 1095-B are sent. In instances where a spouse or dependent are on their own COBRA policy, this address can be set to reflect the dependent or spouse’s address so that the appropriate individual receives the 1095-B. If the employee is the qualified beneficiary (Qualified Beneficiary field on the CBN is left blank), leave the address section blank and the address is defaulted from the employee’s COBRA Master record. If the employee does not have a COBRA Master record, the address is defaulted from the employee’s Address (ADDR) record. If a dependent or spouse is the qualified beneficiary (Qualified Beneficiary set to a Dependent ID), leave the address section blank and the address is defaulted from the dependent’s COBRA Master record. If the dependent does not have a COBRA Master record, the address is defaulted from the dependent’s Dependent (DPND) record.
Complete the ACA Information section. For Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting, the ACA Information section allows you to define the Offer of Coverage, Monthly Cost, Lowest Cost Benefit Type/Plan and enrollment dates for COBRA plans.
To add another Qualified Beneficiary or Covered Individual, repeat steps 4-9.
Select Validate to make certain that your entries are correct.
Select Submit to record the COBRA Benefits record in the system.
Select Close to exit the COBRA Benefits - ACA Reporting (CBN) page and return to the COBRA activity folder.