Distribute Group SPDs and SMMs by March 1

If you haven’t already done so, distribute your cooperative’s 2018 Group Benefits Program summary plan description (SPD) and summary of material modifications (SMM) documents to plan participants by March 1.

Once you distribute the SPDs and SMMs, don’t forget to acknowledgement distribution on the Group Plan Documents (SBC, SMM, SPD) page of the Employee Benefits website. If you still need to download your SPDs or SMMs, you can do this from the same location.

These individuals must receive SPDs and SMMs:

• New employees (within 90 days of the date they first become covered under the plan).
• Active and disabled employees that participate in the group benefit plans your co-op offers during 2018.
• Directors and retained attorneys, COBRA plan participants, retirees, and surviving dependents of deceased employees or retirees who continue to be covered.
• Children covered under a qualified medical child support order must also receive their own copy if they do not reside with your employee.

Before distributing your notices, review the distribution checklist, instructions, rules for who must receive SPDs and SMMs, and information about electronic distribution methods. These are all available on the Employee Benefits website.

Acknowledgement steps are listed on the Distributing Plan Documents page. Before you start the acknowledgement process, have handy your method of distribution, participant counts, and the number of non-English language speakers for each plan. You will need to enter these on the acknowledgement form.

If you have questions as you distribute and acknowledge your SPDs and SMMs, contact the group compliance team at 866.673.2299, option 7, or email us at group.compliance@nreca.coop.