Can the COBRA general notice be included in the Summary Plan Description (SPD) that is provided to employees?

The answer is YES and can be found in the Employer’s Guide to Group Health Continuation Under COBRA, published by the Department of Labor: https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/publications/an-employers-guide-to-group-health-continuation-coverage-under-cobra.pdf

Group health plans must give each employee and spouse a general notice describing COBRA rights within the first 90 days of coverage. Group health plans can satisfy this requirement by including the general notice in the plan’s summary plan description and giving it to the employee and spouse within this time limit.

Model General Notice

The Department of Labor has developed a model general notice that single-employer group health plans may use to satisfy the general notice requirement. It is available at http://dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/ laws-and-regulations/laws/cobra.

In order to use this model general notice properly, the plan administrator must complete it by filling in the blanks with the appropriate plan information. The department considers using the model general notice, appropriately completed, to be good faith compliance with COBRA’s general notice content requirements.

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