ARTICLE · 08 NOVEMBER 2012

Are You Using "Culturally Appropriate" Language?

Fisher Phillips LLP

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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires group health plans to distribute four-page plan summaries to enrollees.

United StatesEmployment and HR

Fisher & Philips LLP

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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires group health plans to distribute four-page plan summaries to enrollees. These Summaries of Benefits and Coverage (SBCs) are subject to a "culturally and linguistically appropriate" standard, meaning that when the SBC is distributed to an enrollee at an address in a county where, according to the federal government, at least 10% of the citizens are fluent only in the same non-English language, the summary must include a prominent offer of language assistance in that non-English language.

Non-grandfathered plans must also satisfy this culturally and linguistically appropriate standard with respect to the plan's claims and appeals process.

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