Employers would have a clearer path to delivering summary plan descriptions (SPDs) and other required health plan documents electronically to participants who have provided—or been assigned—an electronic address under a proposed “notice and access” regulation from the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).
Quick Hits
The DOL has proposed a rule that would add an additional electronic disclosure safe harbor modeled on the 2020 “notice and access” safe harbor for pension benefit plans.
The proposed rule would apply to “group health plans” and would affect approximately 2.7 million ERISA-covered group health plans—but not other welfare benefit plans—covering about 134 million participants.
The safe harbor would provide a clearer compliance path, but electronic delivery may not be a complete defense, if, for example, there are notice defects or undeliverable emails.
That safe harbor, along with estimates of employer savings of up to $3.9… Read the complete article here...
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