Illinois requires employers to disclose certain information concerning their health plans to employees who work in that state. Have there been any updates concerning the requirement?

Employers with workers employed in the state of Illinois should be aware of the Illinois Consumer Coverage Disclosure Act (or CCDA). The law became effective on August 27, 2021. The CCDA requires all private employers and non-federal governmental employers to provide Illinois employees with a disclosure that compares their coverage to essential health benefits (EHBs) required for coverage received through the Illinois marketplace. The employer must provide a disclosure for each group health plan that covers Illinois employees. The CCDA does not impose additional coverage requirements on these employers, only the disclosure requirements. Ask your account executive for a copy of our whitepaper on the CCDA, which includes links to the IL DOL FAQs and the model disclosure form.

The Illinois Department of Labor (IL DOL), the agency charged with administering and enforcing this requirement, maintains a list of FAQs that provide general guidance on this requirement. Although the IL DOL has not updated this information, the agency has provided us with a few answers to questions raised concerning the agency’s model form.

Many employers use the model form provided by the IL DOL. The form asks for the “Name of the Issuer.” According to the IL Department of Labor, the “Name of the Issuer” is the name of the plan’s issuer or carrier. Note that this would not apply to self-insured plans. The IL DOL has not provided guidance on that point, but one possible response for a self-insured plan is to provide the name of the employer, followed by “(self-insured, administered by [name of TPA]).”

The form also requires employers to identify the “Plan Marketing Name.” According to the IL DOL, this is the name the issuer uses or assigns to the major medical product. If the plan is self-insured, a possible response is the name of the employer followed by “(self-insured).”

The most important criteria to remember when completing the disclosure form is that the employee should be able to identify the plan(s) that the employer offers and which Illinois EHBs those plans provide. It should be emphasized that the disclosure requirement does not require plans to provide EHBs that they do not already provide.