Title 29 — LaborRelease 119-73not60

§1183 Guaranteed Renewability in Multiemployer Plans and Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements

Title 29 › Chapter 18— EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY PROGRAM › Subchapter I— PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RIGHTS › Subtitle Subtitle B— Regulatory Provisions › Part 7— group health plan requirements › Subpart A— Requirements Relating to Portability, Access, and Renewability › § 1183

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

A multiemployer or multiple employer welfare plan must let an employer whose workers are covered keep the same or get other coverage. A plan can refuse or stop that access for six reasons only: not paying contributions; employer fraud or lying about important facts; breaking key plan rules; the plan stops offering coverage in the area; for network plans, no one enrolled through the employer lives or works in the network’s service area and the plan applies this rule the same way for everyone without using claims history or health status; or failing to meet, renew, or follow a collective bargaining or similar agreement that requires contributions, or not employing workers covered by such an agreement.

Full Legal Text

Title 29, §1183

Labor — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

A group health plan which is a multiemployer plan or which is a multiple employer welfare arrangement may not deny an employer whose employees are covered under such a plan continued access to the same or different coverage under the terms of such a plan, other than—

(1)for nonpayment of contributions;

(2)for fraud or other intentional misrepresentation of material fact by the employer;

(3)for noncompliance with material plan provisions;

(4)because the plan is ceasing to offer any coverage in a geographic area;

(5)in the case of a plan that offers benefits through a network plan, there is no longer any individual enrolled through the employer who lives, resides, or works in the service area of the network plan and the plan applies this paragraph uniformly without regard to the claims experience of employers or any health status-related factor in relation to such individuals or their dependents; and

(6)for failure to meet the terms of an applicable collective bargaining agreement, to renew a collective bargaining or other agreement requiring or authorizing contributions to the plan, or to employ employees covered by such an agreement.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

29 U.S.C. § 1183

Title 29 — Labor

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60