WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Labor Department proposed allowing about 2.8 million employer-sponsored health plans to deliver required disclosures electronically, a regulatory change projected to reduce administrative costs by $3.9 billion over 10 years.
The Employee Benefits Security Administration’s proposal would create a new safe harbor under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act for digital delivery of health plan documents.
Group health plans currently print and mail as many as 11 billion sheets of paper annually, according to the department. Plans could continue providing paper documents or using existing electronic-delivery rules.
The proposal would expand the categories of recipients who may receive disclosures electronically without relying solely on the department’s 2002 safe harbor.
That earlier rule generally covers workers who use electronic systems as part of their jobs and other participants or beneficiaries who affirmatively consent to digital delivery.
The proposed framework is modeled on a 2020 safe harbor established for pension plan disclosures.
“Today, the Department of Labor is helping employers save billions by modernizing how health plans communicate with Americans,” Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling stated.
Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Daniel Aronowitz said the rule, if finalized, would reduce administrative costs and make plan documents easier for participants to access online.
The department’s benefits agency oversees protections for more than 155 million workers, retirees and family members covered by private-sector benefit plans.
Its jurisdiction includes approximately 2.8 million health plans, 837,000 private retirement plans and 521,000 other welfare benefit plans. Collectively, those plans hold about $15.2 trillion in assets.
Employers and workers can contact the agency at askebsa.dol.gov or 866-444-3272 for assistance with private-sector retirement and health plans.
The proposed rule is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-14917/electronic-disclosure-by-group-health-plans-under-employee-retirement-income-security-act.
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