Another federal appeals court, this time the First Circuit Court of Appeals, recently ruled that if an ERISA plan wants to enforce a plan-imposed time limit for suing the plan, it must disclose that limit in the claim denial notice even if the limit is described in the summary plan description. Employers who have such a plan-imposed time limit, especially where the plan is self-insured, will want to consider coordinating with their claims payers to add a sentence or two to the payers’ standard explanations of benefits, describing the plan-imposed limit.
Please click to see our brief video on the decision.
For even more detail, you can review the court’s written decision.
Nothing here or in the video blog should be construed as legal advice.