Department of Labor Proposes Electronic Delivery Safe Harbor for Group Health Plan Disclosures

Summary

On July 22, 2026, the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration issued a proposed rule that would establish a new safe harbor permitting administrators of ERISA-covered group health plans to furnish required participant disclosures electronically, by posting on a secure website or other electronic repository and providing notice of the posting through electronic means such as email or text, rather than by mail. The proposal was published in the Federal Register on July 23, 2026. Comments are due September 21, 2026.

Background

When the Department adopted its electronic delivery safe harbor for retirement plans in 2020, it declined to extend that relief to health and welfare plans. Group health plans have therefore remained subject to the 2002 electronic disclosure safe harbor, which generally permits electronic delivery only to employees whose job duties involve regular computer access or to individuals who have affirmatively consented. As a practical matter, most group health plan disclosures are still printed and mailed. The Department estimates that group health plans mail up to 11 billion sheets of paper each year and that the proposal, which would cover approximately 2.8 million plans, could save plans approximately $3.9 billion over ten years.

The Proposed Safe Harbor

The proposed safe harbor follows the general structure of the 2020 retirement plan rule. It is applicable only to group health plans, not other welfare benefits such as life insurance or disability plans. A plan administrator relying on the safe harbor would be required to post covered documents to a secure website or other electronic repository meeting standards for accessibility, searchability, retention, and confidentiality. The administrator would then be required to furnish a notice of internet availability when a document is posted through approved electronic means (i.e., email to personal or work email address or text to smartphone). Before transitioning a participant to electronic delivery under the safe harbor, the administrator must provide an initial paper notice and must establish and maintain procedures for identifying and correcting invalid or undeliverable electronic addresses. Participants would retain the right to request paper copies of any document free of charge and to opt out of electronic delivery entirely.

Implications for Plan Sponsors

The proposal, if finalized, would meaningfully reduce the cost of furnishing summary plan descriptions, summaries of material modifications, and other Title I disclosures for group health plans. The safe harbor would cover, for example, claim denials and explanations of benefits issued with respect to group health plan claims.

Compliance with the safe harbor will depend on the quality of the plan's electronic address data. Populations that rely on personal email addresses and/or smartphone numbers, including employees who do not have an employer email as part of their job, retirees, COBRA qualified beneficiaries, and covered spouses and dependents, will require verification and remediation procedures, and some individuals will need to remain on paper delivery. Sponsors should plan for a dual-track system rather than a complete conversion.

Failures of disclosure delivery are a recurring issue in benefit claim litigation and in claims for statutory penalties. Electronic delivery records, if properly maintained, are generally stronger evidence of delivery than proof of mailing. The safe harbor's conditions should be treated as mandatory requirements, because a program that does not satisfy them will not receive the safe harbor's protection.

Next Steps

• Inventory current health plan disclosure obligations, delivery methods, and print and mail costs.
• Assess the quality of participant and beneficiary electronic address data for employees who do not have an employer email address as part of their job, retirees, COBRA qualified beneficiaries, and covered spouses and dependents.
• Discuss readiness and allocation of compliance responsibility with third-party administrators, insurers, and benefits administration vendors.

The rule is a proposal only. The 2002 safe harbor remains the applicable standard for group health plans until a final rule is adopted and effective, and no changes to current delivery practices should be made at this time.

This alert is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

If you have any questions regarding the information in this update, please contact your Quarles attorney or:

• Sarah Sise: 314-696-5130 / sarah.sise@quarles.com

• Lauren Schuster: 314-696-5115 / lauren.schuster@quarles.com

We also thank Shane Zabel, who assisted with the preparation of this alert.