2021 Group Benefits Program SPDs Now Available – NRECA Employee Benefits Weekly

Starting in December, your cooperative should have received one or more Message Center notifications linking to the Group Plan Documents page on the Employee Benefits website where 2021 Group Benefits Program summary plan description (SPD) documents are available for download. SPDs for plans with special or exception designs will continue to be released during January. All SPD documents will be available by January 31 and must be distributed to current participants and beneficiaries no later than March 1, 2021.

Also give SPDs to employees you hire during 2021 within 90 days of their hire date (and to directors elected or appointed during 2021). COBRA plan participants, retirees, surviving dependents and any children under a qualified medical child support order must receive their own copy if they do not reside with your employee.

Note the following when downloading your SPDs:

SPDs are in Adobe Acrobat format. They include a link to download a free copy of Acrobat Reader.
If applicable to your co-op, the NRECA Retired Life Insurance Plan SPD is now a standalone SPD separate from the NRECA Group Term Life and AD&D Insurance Plan SPD.
A recent update to the Firefox browser may cause an error when opening SPDs using the link in your Message Center notification. NRECA is aware of the issue and is working to implement a fix. In the interim, please use an alternate browser such as Chrome or Microsoft IE 11/Edge.

Before distribution, ensure that your SPDs correctly reflect the elections you made during annual renewal (e.g., eligibility, premium cost-sharing, deductible amounts and coinsurance), even if those elections did not change in 2021. If they don’t, contact the benefits compliance team right away. Also, ensure the plan provisions in your SPDs properly reflect your co-op’s human resources policies and procedures.

Visit the BA Guide to find a full distribution checklist, guidelines for who must receive SPDs, and electronic distribution guidelines. Check the COVID-19 page on timeline extensions to find out if your co-op can use certain temporary electronic delivery methods during the pandemic.

Once distributed, be sure to acknowledge all outstanding distributions using the “Documents Requiring Acknowledgement” section of the Group Plan Documents page.

If you have questions about downloading or accessing your SPDs contact the Member Contact Center at 866.673.2299 or contactcenter@nreca.coop.

For all other SPD questions, call the benefits compliance team at 866.673.2299, option 7, or email us at group.compliance@nreca.coop.