I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2047 
To remove the 18 or 36 month limitation on the period of COBRA 
continuation coverage. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 26, 2007 
Mr. DENT (for himself, Mr. KIRK, Mr. GERLACH, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. 
MARCHANT, Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. COLE of Oklahoma, Mr. MARIO 
DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. PORTER, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. 
KING of Iowa, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. REICHERT, Mrs. BIGGERT, and Mr. 
PRICE of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committees 
on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Oversight and Govern-
ment Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To remove the 18 or 36 month limitation on the period 
of COBRA continuation coverage. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Health Insurance for 
Life Act of 2007’’. 
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SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF 18 OR 36 MONTH LIMITATION ON 
COBRA CONTINUATION COVERAGE. 
(a) UNDER ERISA.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 
602(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security 
Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1162(2)) is amended to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(A) NO SPECIFIED MAXIMUM REQUIRED 
PERIOD.—Except as otherwise provided, there 
is no specified deadline for the continuation 
coverage provided under this part.’’. 
(2) INCREASED PREMIUM PERMITTED FOR AD-
DITIONAL COVERAGE.—The last sentence of section 
602(3) of such Act is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘In the case of an individual who was described in 
the last sentence of paragraph (2)(A), as in effect 
before the amendment made by section 2(a)(1) of 
the Health Insurance For Life Act of 2007, for any 
month after the 18th month of continuation cov-
erage described in clause (i) or (ii) of such para-
graph and in the case of an individual whose con-
tinuation coverage is only required under this part 
due to such amendment, any reference in subpara-
graph (A) of this paragraph to ‘102 percent’ is 
deemed a reference to such percentage as the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services determines 
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(from time to time and after consultation with the 
Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of the Treas-
ury) that if were applied during the period of the 
first 18 months of continuation coverage under this 
part would have resulted in a premium equal to the 
average monthly actuarial cost of such continuation 
coverage.’’. 
(b) UNDER IRC.— 
(1) 
IN
GENERAL.—Clause 
(i) 
of 
section 
4980B(f)(2)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 (relating to maximum required period of con-
tinuation coverage) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(i) NO
SPECIFIED
MAXIMUM
RE-
QUIRED
PERIOD.—Except as otherwise 
provided, there is no specified deadline for 
the continuation coverage provided under 
this section.’’. 
(2) INCREASED PREMIUM PERMITTED FOR AD-
DITIONAL COVERAGE.—The last sentence of section 
4980B(f)(2)(C) of such Code is amended to read as 
follows: ‘‘In the case of an individual who was de-
scribed in the last sentence of subparagraph (B)(i), 
as in effect before the amendment made by section 
2(b)(1) of the Health Insurance For Life Act of 
2007, for any month after the 18th month of con-
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tinuation coverage described in subclause (I) or (II) 
of such subparagraph and in the case of an indi-
vidual whose continuation coverage is only required 
under this section due to such amendment, any ref-
erence in clause (i) of this subparagraph to ‘102 
percent’ is deemed a reference to such percentage as 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services deter-
mines from time to time under the last sentence of 
section 602(e) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974.’’. 
(c) UNDER PHSA.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 
2202(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
300bb–2(2)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(A) NO SPECIFIED MAXIMUM REQUIRED 
PERIOD.—Except as otherwise provided, there 
is no specified deadline for the continuation 
coverage provided under this part.’’. 
(2) INCREASED PREMIUM PERMITTED FOR AD-
DITIONAL COVERAGE.—The last sentence of section 
2202(3) of such Act is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘In the case of an individual who was described in 
the last sentence of paragraph (2)(A), as in effect 
before the amendment made by section 2(c)(1) of 
the Health Insurance For Life Act of 2007, for any 
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month after the 18th month of continuation cov-
erage described in clause (i) or (ii) of such para-
graph and in the case of an individual whose con-
tinuation coverage is only required under this part 
due to such amendment, any reference in subpara-
graph (A) of this paragraph to ‘102 percent’ is 
deemed a reference to such percentage as the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services determines 
from time to time under the last sentence of section 
602(e) of the Employee Retirement Income Security 
Act of 1974.’’. 
(d) FEHBP.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Subsection (e) of section 
8905a of title 5, United States Code, is amended to 
read as follows: 
‘‘(e) Continuation coverage under this section shall 
not extend beyond the period of continuation required 
under section 602(2) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 for a group health plan covered 
under such section.’’. 
(2) INCREASED PREMIUM PERMITTED FOR AD-
DITIONAL
COVERAGE.—Section 8905a(d) of such 
title is amended— 
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘and 
(5)’’ and inserting ‘‘, (5), and (6)’’; 
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(B) in paragraph (4)(A), in the matter be-
fore clause (i), by inserting ‘‘for periods of con-
tinuation coverage not resulting from the 
amendment made by section 2(d)(1) of the 
Health Insurance For Life Act of 2007’’ after 
‘‘National Nuclear Security Administration’’; 
(C) in paragraph (5)(A), in the matter be-
fore clause (i), by inserting ‘‘for periods of con-
tinuation coverage not resulting from the 
amendment made by section 2(d)(1) of the 
Health Insurance For Life Act of 2007’’ after 
‘‘Atomic Energy Defense Act’’; and 
(D) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(6) In the case of any period of continuation cov-
erage under this section resulting from the amendment 
made by section 2(d)(1) of the Health Insurance For Life 
Act of 2007, the amount required to be paid under this 
subsection shall be equal to a percentage (equal to such 
percentage as the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices determines from time to time under the last sentence 
of section 602(e) of the Employee Retirement Income Se-
curity Act of 1974) applied to the amount described in 
paragraph (1)(A)(i).’’. 
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 
the amendments made by subsections (a) through 
(c) shall apply with respect to group health plans, 
and health insurance coverage offered in connection 
with group health plans, for plan years beginning 
after the date of the enactment of this Act and the 
amendments made by subsection (d) shall apply to 
contract years beginning after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(2) TREATMENT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 
AGREEMENTS.—In the case of a group health plan 
maintained pursuant to 1 or more collective bar-
gaining agreements between employee representa-
tives and 1 or more employers ratified before the 
date of enactment of this Act, the amendments made 
by subsections (a) through (c) shall not apply to 
plan years beginning before the later of— 
(A) the date on which the last collective 
bargaining agreements relating to the plan ter-
minates (determined without regard to any ex-
tension thereof agreed to after the date of en-
actment of this Act); or 
(B) 2 years after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
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For purposes of subparagraph (A), any plan amend-
ment made pursuant to a collective bargaining 
agreement relating to the plan which amends the 
plan solely to conform to any requirement added by 
this section shall not be treated as a termination of 
such collective bargaining agreement. 
Æ 
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