Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
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524us1$75M 02-18-99 19:35:22 PAGES OPINPGT

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GEISSAL v. MOORE MEDICAL CORP.

Opinion of the Court

B

Moore, like the Magistrate, believes that James Geissal’s
coverage under the TWA plan defeats the claim for COBRA
coverage after his election to receive it. As Moore reads
§ 1162(2)(D)(i), it is not relevant when a qualiﬁed beneﬁciary
ﬁrst obtains other health insurance coverage; instead, Moore
submits, all that matters is whether, at any time after the
date of election, the beneﬁciary is covered by another group
In any event, Moore claims, James Geissal ﬁrst
health plan.
became covered under the TWA plan only after his COBRA
election, because it was only at that moment that his TWA
coverage became primary.

Moore’s reading, however, will not square with the text.
Section 1162(2)(D)(i) does not provide that the employer
is excused if the beneﬁciary “is” covered or “remains” cov-
ered on or after the date of the election. Nothing in
§ 1162(2)(D)(i) says anything about the hierarchy of policy
obligations, or otherwise suggests that it might matter
whether the coverage of another group health plan is pri-
mary. So far as this case is concerned, what is crucial is
that § 1162(2)(D)(i) does not speak in terms of “coverage”
that might exist or continue; it speaks in terms of an event,
the event of “becom[ing] covered.” This event is signiﬁcant
only if it occurs, and “ﬁrst” occurs, at a time “after the date
of the election.”
It is undisputed that both before and after
James Geissal elected COBRA continuation coverage he was
continuously a beneﬁciary of TWA’s group health plan. Be-
cause he was thus covered before he made his COBRA elec-
tion, and so did not “ﬁrst become” covered under the TWA
plan after the date of election, Moore could not cut off his
COBRA coverage under the plain meaning of § 1162(2)(D)(i).
Moore argues, to the contrary, that there is a reasonable
sense in which a beneﬁciary does “ﬁrst becom[e]” covered
under a pre-existing plan “after the date of the election,”
even when prior coverage can be said to persist after the
election date: the ﬁrst moment of coverage on the day follow-