Timothy Sumer

The last health insurance mandate that we will discuss covers employers who provide a group retirement plan and/or group health and welfare plans of basically any type, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance and others. Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) guidance must be followed in any of these cases Any organization that provides retirement or health and welfare plans must provide a document called a Summary Plan Description (SPD) telling beneficiaries about the plan and how it works—in plain language that the average employee can understand. The organization also has to provide similar information whenever the plan changes significantly and send an annual report to members, as well as meet some other requirements. A major provision of ERISA is guidance on retirement (pension) plan eligibility. If the company provides employees with a retirement plan, the guidelines in ERISA say that the plan has to be available to all employees over 21 years of