COBRA: Claims Made During Grace Period

Hi,

I recently switched jobs and my employer said that they would cover one month of COBRA premiums for me, but afterwards it would be my decision / responsibility to continue coverage. I’m not someone that has any chronic medical conditions, but over the past two months I’ve had a series of appointments and tests done. About half of them were done during the month of coverage for which my employer paid. However, after that month ended, my coverage continued to show “active” although I had not paid the premium for that month. To my understanding, that is known as the grace period. During this period, I visited the doctor a few times and I told the doctor that I had not paid my premium, but they said the insurance was showing as active so I can proceed forward.

That being said, I agreed to the visits and the tests. When I check my insurance app (I have Cigna PPO), it says that the claims have been processed and it looks like the insurance paid out the amount that they were billed. However, today I got an email from the COBRA provider my previous employer used that said I had not paid my premium and that it would be cancelled going back to the last date of coverage under the initial payment.

My main question is that, if my claims are showing as processed, what will happen if I do not pay the premium? I’m sure they’ll notify my insurance, but I won’t have that insurance going forward anyway and the claims are already processed. Is there any way that I don’t receive bills for the visits / tests I had during the grace period?

Pasting below the contents of the email I received. For context, I left my employer 9/3/24, they paid for my COBRA until 10/3/24, and then I had a series of visits between 10/3/24 and now, for which the claims show as processed.

Thanks!

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“This is a reminder that your COBRA premium payment for the coverage period, 10/04/2024-10/31/2024, is still due. As of 10/22/2024, your COBRA premiums are paid in full through 10/03/2024.  You may view the amount due, as well as your previous payment history, by logging into your account at ____ (link).

If your payment is not made by 11/03/2024 a cancellation for your policy will be forwarded to the appropriate insurance carriers for cancellation.”