Health insurance after divorce.
There is a sixty-day notice deadline that nobody tells you about, and missing it can end the right to continue coverage altogether. Here is the whole timetable, and what to do if COBRA does not apply to you at all.
Every answer below is read off a statute, a regulation, or the agency’s own publication, and linked to it. Where the operative words exist we quote them rather than paraphrase, because on this subject the paraphrase is usually what is wrong. Where we could not confirm something, the page says so instead of filling the gap.
The questions, answered
What is COBRA, and which employers have to offer it? Which employers are not covered at all?Partly confirmed
COBRA is a federal law that lets you keep the group health coverage you already had, for a limited time, after an event that would otherwise end it. It is not new insurance and it is not a subsidy. It applies to a group health plan sponsored by a private employer or a state or local government that normally had 20 or more employees on a typical business day in the previous calendar year. Three big groups of people are left out. If all the employers keeping up the plan normally had fewer than 20 employees last year, the law simply does not apply. Plans sponsored by the federal government are not covered by COBRA (federal employees have a separate right called Temporary Continuation of Coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits program). Plans sponsored by churches and certain church-related organizations are not covered either. If your former spouse's employer is small, or is a church, you may have no COBRA right at all, and the Marketplace or Medicaid is where to look next.
The exclusions for the federal government and for churches are stated in the Labor Department's own guidance: 'COBRA generally applies to all private sector group health plans maintained by employers that had at least 20 employees on more than 50 percent of its typical business days in the previous calendar year…The law does not apply, however, to plans sponsored by the federal government or by churches and certain church-related organizations.' (U.S. Department of Labor, An Employer's Guide to Group Health Continuation Coverage Under COBRA, https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/publications/an-employers-guide-to-group-health-continuation-coverage-under-cobra.pdf). The Labor Department's consumer questions and answers put the same point this way: 'Your health plan is covered by COBRA if your employer is one of the following: A private-sector employer or employee organization, such as a union, with 20 or more employees. A state government. A local government. COBRA does not cover plans sponsored by the federal government or by churches and certain church-related organizations.' The 20-employee count and the church and federal exclusions are written into the law and do not change from year to year.
Is divorce or legal separation a qualifying event, and how long can a former spouse keep the coverage?Partly confirmed
Yes. Divorce or legal separation from the covered employee is one of the events the statute lists, and a spouse who loses coverage because of it is a qualified beneficiary with a right to elect COBRA in their own name. For divorce or legal separation the maximum is 36 months, measured from the date of the qualifying event. That is the ceiling, not a promise: coverage can end sooner if the plan stops offering group health coverage to any employee, if the premium is not paid on time, or if the former spouse becomes covered under another group health plan or entitled to Medicare.
The 36-month maximum is set out in 29 U.S.C. 1162(2)(A)(iv): 'In the case of a qualifying event not described in section 1163(2) or 1163(6) of this title, the date which is 36 months after the date of the qualifying event.' The surrounding sentence reads: 'The coverage must extend for at least the period beginning on the date of the qualifying event and ending not earlier than the earliest of the following:'. See https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title29-section1162&num=0&edition=prelim . The Labor Department's consumer questions and answers show '36 months' as the maximum period of continuation coverage for 'Divorce or legal separation'. The 36 months is written into the statute and does not change annually.
Who has to tell the plan about the divorce, by when, and what happens if nobody does?Partly confirmed
This is the deadline that costs people their coverage. For most COBRA events the employer has to tell the plan. Divorce is different. For a divorce or a legal separation, the covered employee or the qualified beneficiary is the one responsible for notifying the plan administrator, and the law gives 60 days after the date of the qualifying event. Once the plan administrator has been notified, the plan has 14 days to send the election notice. From there you get an election period of at least 60 days, running from the later of the date coverage ends or the date the election notice is given to you. Now the plain part. The plan's duty to send an election notice for a divorce only arises 'where the covered employee notifies the administrator'. If nobody tells the plan inside the 60 days, no election notice goes out, no election period opens, and the right to continue the coverage is gone. Nobody chases you. Read the plan's summary plan description, because the plan is allowed to set out how the notice must be given, and give the notice in writing and keep proof of the date you sent it.
The plan administrator's own deadline is 29 U.S.C. 1166(c): 'For purposes of subsection (a)(4), any notification shall be made within 14 days (or, in the case of a group health plan which is a multiemployer plan, such longer period of time as may be provided in the terms of the plan) of the date on which the administrator is notified under paragraph (2) or (3), whichever is applicable, and any such notification to an individual who is a qualified beneficiary as the spouse of the covered employee shall be treated as notification to all other qualified beneficiaries residing with such spouse at the time such notification is made.' The trigger for that duty is 29 U.S.C. 1166(a)(4)(B): 'in the case of a qualifying event described in paragraph (3) or (5) of section 1163 of this title where the covered employee notifies the administrator under paragraph (3), any qualified beneficiary with respect to such event'. The election period is 29 U.S.C. 1165(a)(1): 'The term "election period" means the period which-(A) begins not later than the date on which coverage terminates under the plan by reason of a qualifying event, (B) is of at least 60 days' duration, and (C) ends not earlier than 60 days after the later of-(i) the date described in subparagraph (A), or (ii) in the case of any qualified beneficiary who receives notice under section 1166(4) of this title, the date of such notice.' The Labor Department's consumer questions and answers put it in plain words: 'You or a qualified beneficiary must notify the plan within 60 days if the qualifying event is: Divorce or legal separation'; 'Election Notice: Sent within 44 days after a qualifying event or 14 days after you notify the plan of a qualifying event such as divorce or loss of dependent child status'; and 'You have 60 days to enroll in COBRA, starting from when your coverage ends or when your COBRA election notice is provided to you or mailed-whichever is later.' The 44 days in that passage is the deadline where the employer is also the plan administrator. We could not find a single sentence in the Labor Department's own publications that spells out the consequence of missing the 60-day notice; the statement above is drawn from how the statute is built, not from a quotable sentence. We also could not find an official source stating that a plan must accept a late notice, and we publish no such claim.
What can the plan charge for COBRA?Partly confirmed
Up to 102 percent of the applicable premium for the period. That means the whole cost of the coverage, the part the employer used to pay as well as the part that came out of the paycheck, plus a 2 percent administrative charge. This is why COBRA feels so much more expensive than the coverage did while the marriage was intact: the price did not go up, the employer's share simply stopped. You may pay in monthly installments if you choose to, and the plan cannot demand any premium before the day that is 45 days after you made your initial election. There is one higher figure. Where COBRA is extended because a qualified beneficiary is determined by the Social Security Administration to have been disabled, the 102 percent becomes 150 percent for any month after the 18th month of continuation coverage.
The 102 percent and 150 percent figures are set by statute and do not change from year to year. The Labor Department's consumer questions and answers say the same thing in plain words: 'The plan may charge the disabled beneficiary up to 150 percent of the premium. The plan may charge up to 102 percent if only non-disabled beneficiaries choose to continue the coverage.' The disability extension applies to the 18-month period that follows a job loss or a cut in hours, not to the 36 months that follow a divorce.
My spouse took me off the health plan before the divorce was final. Have I lost my COBRA right?Partly confirmed
Not on that account alone. The federal COBRA regulations deal with exactly this. If coverage is cut back or dropped in anticipation of an event, and the event then happens, the earlier cut is ignored when working out whether the event caused a loss of coverage. The regulation names an employee removing a spouse ahead of a divorce or legal separation as its own example. So a spouse who was taken off the plan during a separation, and then divorced, is treated as though the coverage had not been taken away, and the divorce is the qualifying event. Two things still matter: the 60-day notice to the plan runs from the divorce or legal separation, and the 36 months are counted from that event, not from the day the coverage was pulled. This rule lives in the Treasury regulations that carry the identical COBRA requirement in the tax code. We looked through ERISA Part 6 itself, 29 U.S.C. 1161 to 1168, and there is no sentence there containing this rule; the regulation below is the authority for it.
The same text appears in the current electronic Code of Federal Regulations at https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-54/section-54.4980B-4 . We searched the full text of ERISA Part 6 (29 U.S.C. 1161-1168) for the phrase 'in anticipation of' and it does not appear there, so we cite the regulation rather than the statute.
Are the children qualified beneficiaries, and what does a Qualified Medical Child Support Order do?Partly confirmed
Yes. A dependent child who would lose coverage because of the parents' divorce is a qualified beneficiary in their own right, with the same 36-month maximum and an independent right to elect. The Labor Department puts it plainly: 'Each qualified beneficiary has an independent right to elect continuation coverage.' A child born to, or placed for adoption with, a covered employee during a period of COBRA coverage counts as a qualified beneficiary too. Separately from COBRA, a divorce court or a state child support agency can order a parent's employer plan to cover a child. That order is a medical child support order, and if it meets the statutory tests it is a Qualified Medical Child Support Order, a QMCSO. The plan does not get to decide whether it likes the order: the law says each group health plan shall provide benefits in accordance with the applicable requirements of any qualified medical child support order. The plan administrator must notify the participant and the child of receipt, follow written procedures for deciding whether the order qualifies, and tell everyone the answer. There is also a standardized federal form, the National Medical Support Notice, which a state child support agency sends to the employer. If it is appropriately completed and meets the same tests, it is deemed to be a QMCSO, and the plan administrator has 40 business days from the date of the Notice to tell the state agency whether coverage is available and whether the child is covered, and to give the custodial parent a description of the coverage and any forms needed.
The plan's duty is 29 U.S.C. 1169(a)(1): 'Each group health plan shall provide benefits in accordance with the applicable requirements of any qualified medical child support order.' The National Medical Support Notice provision is 29 U.S.C. 1169(a)(5)(C): '(i) In general. If the plan administrator of a group health plan which is maintained by the employer of a noncustodial parent of a child or to which such an employer contributes receives an appropriately completed National Medical Support Notice promulgated pursuant to section 401(b) of the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 in the case of such child, and the Notice meets the requirements of paragraphs (3) and (4), the Notice shall be deemed to be a qualified medical child support order in the case of such child. (ii) Enrollment of child in plan. In any case in which an appropriately completed National Medical Support Notice is issued in the case of a child of a participant under a group health plan who is a noncustodial parent of the child, and the Notice is deemed under clause (i) to be a qualified medical child support order, the plan administrator, within 40 business days after the date of the Notice, shall-(I) notify the State agency issuing the Notice with respect to such child whether coverage of the child is available under the terms of the plan and, if so, whether such child is covered under the plan and either the effective date of the coverage or, if necessary, any steps to be taken by the custodial parent (or by the official of a State or political subdivision thereof substituted for the name of such child pursuant to paragraph (3)(A)) to effectuate the coverage; and (II) provide to the custodial parent (or such substituted official) a description of the coverage available and any forms or documents necessary to effectuate such coverage.' The quotation about a newborn or adopted child is from the Labor Department's An Employee's Guide to Health Benefits Under COBRA (2022): 'Any child born to or placed for adoption with a covered employee during a period of continuation coverage is automatically considered a qualified beneficiary.' The Labor Department also publishes the National Medical Support Notice, Part B, at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/employers-and-advisers/plan-administration-and-compliance/health-plans/national-medical-support-notice-part-b .
Can I buy a Marketplace plan instead, and when?Partly confirmed
Usually yes, and for many people it costs less than COBRA. The Marketplace has an open enrollment period once a year, but losing your health coverage opens a Special Enrollment Period outside it. HealthCare.gov says you may qualify 'if you or anyone in your household lost qualifying health coverage in the past 60 days OR expects to lose coverage in the next 60 days'. The regulation sets the same window: 'a qualified individual or enrollee has 60 days from the date of a triggering event to select a QHP.' Here is the trap. The divorce itself is not the trigger. HealthCare.gov states flatly that 'Divorce or legal separation without losing coverage doesn't qualify you for a Special Enrollment Period.' What opens the door is losing the coverage. On cost, HealthCare.gov says 'Marketplace plans may cost less than COBRA, especially if you qualify for savings based on your income.' And electing COBRA has consequences for that. If you have not yet signed up for COBRA you can still be assessed for premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions; if you have signed up, you can still get them so long as you end the COBRA by the time the Marketplace plan starts. But if you take COBRA and later simply decide to drop it in the middle of the term, HealthCare.gov says 'If you choose to end COBRA coverage early, you'll have to wait until next Open Enrollment to get Marketplace coverage (unless you experience another life event).' Compare the two before you elect, not after.
The regulation is 45 C.F.R. 155.420(c)(1): 'Unless specifically stated otherwise herein, a qualified individual or enrollee has 60 days from the date of a triggering event to select a QHP', with the loss-of-coverage trigger at 45 C.F.R. 155.420(d)(1)(i): 'Loses minimum essential coverage. The date of the loss of coverage is the last day the consumer would have coverage under his or her previous plan or coverage' (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-B/part-155/subpart-E/section-155.420). On COBRA and Marketplace savings, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services state: 'If consumers are eligible for COBRA continuation coverage but have not made a COBRA continuation coverage selection (i.e., have not yet signed up), they may still qualify for advance payments of the premium tax credit (APTC) or cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) through the Marketplace, if they are otherwise eligible', and 'consumers who have made a COBRA continuation coverage selection may qualify for APTC or CSRs so long as they terminate their COBRA continuation coverage by the time their Marketplace plan would start' (https://www.cms.gov/files/document/cobra-coverage-marketplace.pdf). The early-termination sentence and 'Marketplace plans may cost less than COBRA, especially if you qualify for savings based on your income' are from https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/cobra-coverage/ . Whether a Marketplace plan is in fact cheaper for a particular person depends on their income and their state, and we make no claim about any individual's case. Open enrollment dates change each year; check HealthCare.gov for the current year's dates before relying on them.
How does the premium tax credit work in the year of the divorce, when we were on one policy together?Partly confirmed
For any month you were enrolled in COBRA, that is coverage you are enrolled in, so the premium tax credit is not available for those months. Being merely eligible for COBRA does not block the credit; enrolling does. The Treasury regulation says a former employee, or a person related to one, who may enroll in continuation coverage 'is eligible for minimum essential coverage under this coverage only for months that the former employee or related individual is enrolled in the coverage.' If you and your former spouse were on one Marketplace policy for part of the year, the year gets split. The IRS calls this a shared policy allocation. For the months you were married, the enrollment premiums, the benchmark second lowest cost silver plan premium, and any advance credit payments are divided between the two of you. You may agree on any percentage from zero to one hundred, but the same percentage has to be used for all three amounts. If you cannot agree, the law splits it down the middle at 50 percent each. One more thing that catches divorcing and separating people: if you end the year still married and file separately, you generally cannot take the credit at all, unless you fall within the exception for a victim of domestic abuse or spousal abandonment.
The figures here are from the Instructions for Form 8962 for tax year 2025, the current instructions as of 23 August 2026; the allocation rules are restated each year and you should check the instructions for the year you are filing. The surrounding sentences read: 'You will allocate between you and your former spouse the total enrollment premiums, the applicable SLCSP premium, and APTC for coverage under the plan during the months you were married' and 'If you do not agree on a percentage, you and your former spouse must allocate 50% of each of these amounts to you and 50% of each to your former spouse.' The married-filing-separately rule reads: 'If you file as married filing separately and are not a victim of domestic abuse or spousal abandonment (see Exception 2 under Married taxpayers, earlier), then you are not an applicable taxpayer and you cannot take the PTC', with the exception introduced by 'If you are a victim of domestic abuse or spousal abandonment, you can file a return as married filing separately and take the PTC for 2025 if all of the following apply to you.' The COBRA sentence is 26 C.F.R. 1.36B-2(c)(3)(iv), Post-employment coverage: 'A former employee (including a retiree), or an individual related…to a former employee, who may enroll in eligible employer-sponsored coverage or in continuation coverage required under Federal law…is eligible for minimum essential coverage under this coverage only for months that the former employee or related individual is enrolled in the coverage' (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2023-title26-vol1/pdf/CFR-2023-title26-vol1-sec1-36B-2.pdf). IRS Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals, covers the same ground for filers (https://www.irs.gov/publications/p504). We are recording what the instructions say; we are not applying them to anyone's return.
Is there a deadline for Medicaid or CHIP?Partly confirmed
No. Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program do not have an open enrollment period. You can apply on any day of the year, and if you qualify, coverage can start straight away. This matters after a divorce because household income and household size are both being recalculated at once: a person who did not qualify while married may qualify now, and children very often do even when a parent does not. There is no reason to wait for a Marketplace enrollment window before applying.
HealthCare.gov's Medicaid and CHIP page says the same thing: 'You can apply for or re-enroll in Medicaid or CHIP any time of year' (https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/). Eligibility rules and income limits are set state by state and change; we publish no income figure here.
What if the employer is a state or local government, or a church?Partly confirmed
State and local government workers are covered, but by a different law. Continuation coverage for them comes from the Public Health Service Act, not from ERISA, and it is the Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, that has jurisdiction over it rather than the Department of Labor. The substance is the same shape: a plan maintained by a state receiving federal funds, or by a political subdivision or agency of one, must let a qualified beneficiary who would lose coverage because of a qualifying event elect continuation coverage. The same 20-employee floor applies, and plans maintained by the government of the District of Columbia or of a United States territory or possession are excluded. Churches are the harder answer. Plans sponsored by churches and certain church-related organizations are not covered by COBRA at all, and there is no federal continuation right to elect. If your former spouse works for a church, a religious school, or a church-affiliated hospital, do not assume a COBRA notice is coming. Ask the plan directly what it offers, ask your state insurance department whether a state continuation law reaches the plan, and look at the Marketplace and Medicaid. Federal government employees are also outside COBRA; they have a separate right called Temporary Continuation of Coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, run by the Office of Personnel Management.
On who enforces it, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services state: 'The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has jurisdiction with respect to the COBRA continuation coverage requirements of the PHS Act that apply to state and local government employers, including counties, municipalities and public school districts, and the group health plans that they sponsor' (https://www.cms.gov/cciio/programs-and-initiatives/other-insurance-protections/cobra_qna). On church plans, the Labor Department states: 'The law does not apply, however, to plans sponsored by the federal government or by churches and certain church-related organizations' (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/publications/an-employers-guide-to-group-health-continuation-coverage-under-cobra.pdf). 'Church plan' takes its meaning from ERISA section 3(33), 29 U.S.C. 1002(33). For federal employees, the Office of Personnel Management states that where a former spouse does not qualify under the spouse equity provisions they may be eligible for Temporary Continuation of Coverage, that 'Children and former spouses can continue TCC for up to 36 months after: the date of the qualifying event', that 'you and your former spouse share the responsibility for notifying your employing office within 60 days after the qualifying event (divorce or annulment)', and that the former spouse 'must elect TCC within 60 days after the later of: the date of the divorce or annulment; or the date he or she receives the notice of TCC rights from your employing office' (https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/temporary-continuation-of-coverage/). We did not confirm whether any particular state has a continuation law that reaches church plans, and we make no claim that one does.
What is published everywhere and is wrong
On every subject on this page the wrong version is more widely repeated than the right one. These are the ones worth knowing before somebody tells you otherwise.
It does not reach a plan where all the employers keeping it up normally had fewer than 20 employees on a typical business day in the previous calendar year, and it does not reach plans sponsored by the federal government or by churches and certain church-related organizations. A great many divorcing spouses have no COBRA right at all and need to look at the Marketplace or Medicaid instead.
For a death, a job loss or cut in hours, Medicare entitlement, or an employer bankruptcy, the employer notifies the plan within 30 days. Divorce and legal separation are not on that list. There, it is the covered employee or the qualified beneficiary who must notify the plan administrator, within 60 days after the qualifying event.
The paperwork does not arrive. The plan's duty to send an election notice for a divorce arises only where the covered employee notifies the administrator, so if nobody tells the plan, no election notice is issued and no election period opens.
A reduction or elimination of coverage made in anticipation of a divorce or legal separation is disregarded in deciding whether the divorce caused a loss of coverage. The regulation names this exact situation as its example.
The plan may charge up to 102 percent of the applicable premium, which is the full cost of the coverage plus a 2 percent administrative charge. The employer's contribution stops. Where COBRA is extended on account of disability, the figure becomes 150 percent for any month after the 18th month.
HealthCare.gov states that divorce or legal separation without losing coverage does not qualify you for a Special Enrollment Period. It is the loss of the coverage that opens the 60-day window.
HealthCare.gov states that if you choose to end COBRA coverage early, you have to wait until the next Open Enrollment to get Marketplace coverage unless you have another life event. Compare the two before electing, not after.
There is no open enrollment period for Medicaid or CHIP. You can apply at any time of year.
Everything this page was read from
29 U.S.C. 1163, Qualifying event
29 U.S.C. 1162, Continuation coverage
29 U.S.C. 1166, Notice requirements
29 U.S.C. 1169, Additional standards for group health plans (QMCSO and National Medical Support Notice)
42 U.S.C. 300bb-1, State and local governmental group health plans must provide continuation coverage
26 C.F.R. 54.4980B-4, Qualifying events
26 C.F.R. 54.4980B-4, Qualifying events (current text)
26 C.F.R. 1.36B-2, Eligibility for premium tax credit
45 C.F.R. 155.420, Special enrollment periods
An Employee's Guide to Health Benefits Under COBRA (2022)
An Employer's Guide to Group Health Continuation Coverage Under COBRA
FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers
Qualified Medical Child Support Orders
National Medical Support Notice – Part B
COBRA Continuation Coverage Questions and Answers
COBRA Continuation Coverage fact sheet
COBRA Coverage and the Marketplace
Getting health coverage outside Open Enrollment
COBRA coverage when you're unemployed
See your options if you lose job-based health insurance
Medicaid and CHIP coverage
When can you get health insurance?
2025 Instructions for Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit (PTC)
Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals
Temporary Continuation of Coverage
The rest of the money
Alimony, child support and what the court itself charges — fifty states, every figure traced to its source.