E-Delivery for Health & Welfare Plans

Each year, employers and health plans send more than a billion sheets of paper to America’s families regarding their health care benefits. Despite a strong preference for e-delivery health plan communications, federal law prohibits employers from defaulting to safe and secure electronic communications. Millions of trees are felled and hundreds of thousands of gallons of water are wasted in fulfilling outdated federal mandates.

Aligned with an overwhelming employee preference for e-delivery, recent federal rulemaking allowed for e-delivery in employee retirement plans. Extending greater flexibility for e-delivery in health benefit plans is a commonsense, straightforward regulatory action that would benefit the backbone of the economy — American workers, employers, and labor organizations — all while reducing the climate and environmental impacts of mandatory paper health care mailings.

ERIC recently convened a diverse working group comprised of key advocates from employers, organized labor, environmental groups, and health plans spheres — all of whom support expanding e-delivery flexibility in ERISA health plans.