The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (“CHIPRA”) imposes certain notice requirements on employers maintaining group health plans.  Under CHIPRA, beginning in April 2009, employers sponsoring group health plans must provide notice of the new special enrollment rights CHIPRA affords.

Under CHIPRA, the Departments of Labor (“DOL”) and Health and Human Services had to develop a model notice for employer-sponsors to use to inform each employee of certain premium assistance opportunities currently available in the employee’s state of residence.  On February 4, 2010, The DOL published that model notice (“Employer CHIP Notice”), available at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/. 

Note that the Department of Labor has stated that it intends to update the model notice each year to reflect changes in contact information and the states offering state Medicaid assistance and/or state child health plan assistance.  Therefore, employers should plan to update the Employer CHIP Notice annually.