Retiree Health

[Guest Sieve]

I assume that a retiree health plan document generally refers to the underlying insurance policy with regard to its substantive provisions. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what provisions ought to be in such a document as opposed to merely referencing the policy? Better yet, if anyone has a sample retiree health care plan that they'd be willing to share offline via PM, I would be most appreciative.

Thanks.

[Guest Pecos]

Are you considering creating a retirement plan that references in that document to refer to the employee health plan for information (such as covered or non covered services, etc)?

If so, I know a company that did that and it was a nightmare for compliance. The active plan had the COBRA language, but the retirement plan did not have that information. Plus, there were different copayment structures between the two plans (but they were acting as one plan because the language tied them together). And that plan was not in compliance because they did not send the active employee SPD when they mailed the retirement SPD. Sorry, I can't send you a retirement plan, but hope you enjoyed my "how benefit plans go bad" story. Hopefully you will create a stand alone retirement plan