New California Law May Affect TravisCobra Letters

Houston, TX - July 10, 2006-- Travis Software Corp., a market leader providing Advanced Employee Benefits Software, announces today New California Law May Affect TravisCobra Letters.

The state of California has recently enacted a new law that requires specific wording to be included in continuation notices effective July 1, 2006. The new law is designed to suggest to continuees that continuation coverage may be appropriate for them compared to coverage which may be offered to them as an alternative.

We are adding wording to the letters produced by TravisCobra Release 8.0 (if the California State-Specific module is part of the configuration) to meet this new requirement. Release 8.0 will be made available on July 31, 2006.

In release 8.0, when a plan is identified in TravisCobra as a benefit plan governed by the laws of California via the state specific module, the system will add wording to the Cobra Election Notice, to Letter 11 (the notice that is sent to a PQB shortly before the end of their Federal COBRA enrollment period when they are about to further continue under California-mandated continuation) and to the letter sent after state continuation has terminated or exhausted.

The wording we are adding is:
"If you are considering alternative coverage to the continuation coverage being offered or discussed herein, please examine your options carefully before declining this continuation coverage. You should be aware that companies selling individual health insurance typically require a review of your medical history that could result in a higher premium or you could be denied coverage entirely."

This new law can be read in its entirety by following this link:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_0351-0400/ab_356_bill_20051005_chaptered.html

You can insert this text now into TravisCobra's current release (Release 7.31) in any letter you would like. Simply modify the letter using the Custom Letter writer to add the wording above. When Release 8.0 is installed, our wording will become automatically available. This upcoming version of TravisCobra will also include a new block containing this text and can be used in any other letter you wish. With the new version, you can modify the text of the block as you see fit.

As with many state drafted laws, the specifics of this new California law are quite vague and we will be watching for further developments as they occur.

The passage of this law points out the usefulness of the State-Specific Modules that are available for TravisCobra. If you have insured plan based in California and currently do not have the Under-20 employee state module or Over-20 employee state module for California, please contact our sales team at 281 496-3737 ext. 124 to explore the State-Specific Modules or visit Travis Software Corp at www.travisoft.com.