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Can my employer cancel my health insurance without informing me about COBRA first?

I quit my job at the end of January (around the 27th), on good terms. It is now March 19, I just discovered that my insurance was cancelled on 3/1. I had always planned on continuing coverage through COBRA, but I never received any information on it. I called my former employer, Pearson VUE, who told me that they notify employees about COBRA through some 3rd party called "Benefit Concepts". They told me that COBRA information was sent to me yesterday. My question is very simple (I live in CA)...I would like to know if it is legal and/or common practice for an employer to terminate my insurance before I can sign up for COBRA? Shouldn't I have been notified? I understand that once I do sign on, coverage will be retroactive to 3/1, but if I need medical treatment tomorrow, why should I have to pay out of my own pocket and then get reimbursed? At the very least this is morally wrong, but I would like to know if Pearson has broken the law.

Public Comments

1. From what I understand from when I quit my job is they have to keep you on the health insurance until you get your COBRA notification. Then you either sign up for an extension of your insurance (big money!!) or you sign the form to decline coverage. I do not think they can just terminate your coverage without giving you the option first.
2. Your employer is legally required to notify you of your COBRA rites at the time of hire and termination. There is a very short window of opportunity for them to do this. "Plan participants and beneficiaries generally must be sent an election notice not later than 14 days after the plan administrator receives notice that a qualifying event has occurred. The individual then has 60 days to decide whether to elect COBRA continuation coverage. The person has 45 days after electing coverage to pay the initial premium. " Failure to do this can result in BIG fines for the employer. But means nothing to you. So while they didn't do it correctly, there is no benefit to you pursuing this with your State's Labor Department unless you feel strongly about it.
3. It actually is relatively common for COBRA materials to be sent after insurance has been ended. It really depends upon how quickly the information that you've terminated from a company is passed along to the benefits administrator that the company uses. As long as they're giving you at least a 60 day enrollment window, and starting the coverage retroactively to the date your insurance otherwise ended, then they're compliant with the law. If you have a good relationship with your doctor, you might ask if they'd be willing to wait a week or two before submitting your claim. If they're not willing to do that, then ask them to invoice you. That'll buy you a couple weeks to get enrolled into you insurance and make your premium payments.