WOMEN'S HEALTH AND CANCER RIGHTS ACT OF 1998

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="039285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>LIFE, DISABILITY, MEDICAL, MEDIGAP, DENTAL, LTCI and ANNUITIES </B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LIFE, DISABILITY, MEDICAL, MEDIGAP, DENT"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="038d2c00dkelyh.png"> <div> W. Forrest Veal, CLU</div> <div> P. O. Box 700222</div> <div> Dallas, TX 75370</div> <div> 972 250 6516</div> <div> 1 888 845 8325</div> <div> Fax 1 775 542 0808</div> <div> E-mail  vealbs@juno.com</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>WOMEN'S HEALTH AND CANCER RIGHTS ACT OF 1998</I></div> <div> Under this Federal Law, group health plans and health insurance issuers providing benefits for a mastectomy must not only provide additional related coverage but must give written notice of such coverage to plan participants upon initial enrollment; and annually thereafter.</div> <bR> <div> The responsibility of providing such notice is placed on both the employer sponsoring a group health plan and the health insurance issuer. Such a dual requirement helps ensure that someone provides the notice, however, duplicate notices need not be given. Insurance companies do not normally maintain participant home addresses and probably will provide the sponsoring employer with notices to distribute. However, the employer cannot assume that the insurance company will provide and take care of notice distribution. Also, a change in insurance companies could change the schedule of distribution or a new carrier may handle the matter completely different. You should coordinate this responsibility with your insurance company.</div> <bR> <div> An employer may want to consider adding the initial notice to the enrollment packet and the annual notice to the information provided during the annual enrollment period which is the month prior to the annual renewal. Whatever procedure you adopt, be sure to document it in your group administration file and keep a record of each distribution in case you must provide proof of compliance with this federal law.</div> <bR> <div> Detailed information about this Federal Law is available at -<A HREF="http://www.dol.gov/dol/pwba/public/pubs/finalq&a.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.dol.gov/dol/pwba/public/pubs/"><U>http://www.dol.gov/dol/pwba/public/pubs/finalq&a.htm</U></A></div> <bR> <div> You will want to go to this site to print a copy of the detailed information on this ACT. The information includes a Model Notice that you may copy and distribute to plan participants. However, this model notice directs the participant to call your Plan Administrator for additional information, so you may want to consider another Model Notice also provided by the Department of Labor but not included in the information you print.</div> <bR> <div> You may print a copy of this notice by clicking - <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Initial and Annual Notice"><U>"MODEL NOTICE"</U></A>  </div> </td> </tr></table></body>