Foreign Language Requirements For Employer Benefit Plans

In December, HHS published a list of counties where at least 10% of the residents are fluent only in a non-English language (the Counties). This gives us the opportunity to remind you that certain employer-sponsored plans must provide various types of assistance to non-English speakers. The more significant requirements apply to group health plans with enrollees in any one of the Counties. Somewhat less burdensome requirements apply to employer plans generally, but only when a certain percentage of the enrollees are fluent only in the same non-English language.

The non-English language requirements are summarized below:

Document: Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC)

Background: An employer-sponsored group health plan must provide an SBC to each employee when the employee first becomes eligible for the plan, at open enrollment, upon a special enrollment, 60 days before a change in the SBC (unless the change is coordinated with the effective date of open