Benefits Compliance

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Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs)
Must Be Distributed to Your Plan Participants

ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) requires plan administrators of group health plans to comply with two important requirements or risk possible penalties and audits:

  • Maintain and distribute accurate Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) to plan participants
  • Group health plans must be administered in accordance with a written Plan Document which must be made available to plan participants and beneficiaries upon request.
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Your Getting Audited Image

What are the Penalties for Non-Compliance?

Employers/plan administrators may be liable for serious penalties if they don’t provide an SPD or have a current Plan Document:

  • Failure to provide an SPD or Plan Document within 30 days of receiving a request from a plan participant or beneficiary can result in a penalty of up to $110/day per participant or beneficiary for each violation.
  • Lack of an SPD could trigger a plan audit by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
  • The DOL has increased its audit staff and national enforcement initiatives to investigate employers’ compliance with Health Care Reform, resulting in companies of all sizes being audited and being required to provide an SPD and Plan Document.

The Solution

Typically, the cost to develop an SPD and Plan Document can be very expensive. We have solved this problem, by using a system developed together with a major ERISA law firm, making it easy and economical to comply with federal requirements.
 
BenefitHelp can provide you with a Wrap SPD and Wrap Plan document. These documents are designed to wrap around existing certificates of insurance and benefit plan booklets to provide the required provisions and information necessary to comply with ERISA. To be compliant, the Wrap SPD and accompanying benefit plan component documents must be distributed to plan participants.

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