Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act

In addition to being a shortened Portuguese term for a venomous, hooded snake, COBRA is an acronym with which Americans are becoming increasingly familiar.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act became enacted in 1986, and “gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events.”