Federal, exists in every state
Find out which insurance rules apply to your work plan
Whether the employer buys insurance from an insurance company or pays the medical bills itself decides which appeal rules and which agency can help.
What it is
Whether the employer buys insurance from an insurance company or pays the medical bills itself decides which appeal rules and which agency can help.
An insurer may pay your medical claims, or your employer may pay them and hire an insurer to process them. That difference helps identify which rules apply. The name on the insurance card does not answer it; HR can confirm the funding and plan type in writing.
What each answer changes
- For a fully insured plan, Kentucky insurance protections can apply. Each law has its own scope and exceptions.
- For a self-funded private-employer plan, federal protections generally apply. Federal surprise-billing, appeal, clinical-trial and certain continued-care rules can still matter.
- Public-employer, federal and church plans can follow different routes. A self-funded governmental plan is not automatically an ERISA plan. The employer’s legal status, funding and plan booklet identify the applicable rules.
What you get
- A written answer on how the plan is funded, the plan name and administrator, and the plan booklet, which is what a social worker or benefits counselor needs to work out which rules apply.
- Knowing which agency to call when a treatment is denied or delayed.
If you decide to apply
- Ask HR by email: “Is our medical plan fully insured or self-funded? In other words, who pays covered claims, the insurance company or our employer? Could you send me the plan administrator’s answer and the plan booklet?”
- Keep the answer with the insurance card.
HR or the benefits office · Official page ↗
Good to know
Funding is only the first clue. Public-employer and church plans can follow different rules. Kentucky’s Department of Insurance, 800-595-6053, or the federal employee-benefits agency, 866-444-3272, can help identify the route.
Official sources
“Can you help us find out whether our work plan is fully insured or self-funded, so we know which protections and appeal route apply?”
Why I’m asking: The card’s company name does not tell us who funds the plan or which rules protect us.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
If the funding type is unknown, ask HR whether the employer pays claims itself or an insurer carries the risk.
Your social worker
Explains which state items depend on the answer.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- Nobody decides. It is a fact about the plan that HR can state
- Ask HR
- “Who funds our plan, is it a federal, government or church plan, and which appeal process and treatment protections apply? Can you send that in writing?”
How to apply
First step: Ask HR: “Who funds this plan, is it a federal, government or church plan, and which appeal process applies? Please send the current plan document.”
- Email HR the funding question.
- Ask for the Summary Plan Description.
Where it starts: One email to HR. The Summary Plan Description
What to gather
- The insurance card
- The Summary Plan Description
How long: One reply from human resources.
What a yes looks like
A written answer. Enter it above and the appeal and mandate items update.
What a no looks like, and the next move
human resources does not know: ask the benefits administrator named on the card, or read the funding section of the Summary Plan Description.
Watch out
- The logo on the card does not tell you who funds the plan. Ask the benefits office for the funding type and current appeal document.
- Federal employees use the carrier’s FEHB reconsideration route and then OPM; state external review is not the FEHB route.
- State and local-government or church plans are not ordinary private-employer ERISA plans. Public plans can carry state-law or contractual protections even when employer-funded.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 10, 2026.
What it is worth
The right appeal option and the right list of protections.
Legal protection: Right to the Summary Plan Description and plan document in writing · Correct state-versus-federal routing
What it costs the family: No fee.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Employer plan required
- yes
Decisions this site cannot make: Plan funding status
Expect friction on: HR terminology
The trap: Treating a public or church employer’s self-funded plan as an ordinary private ERISA plan. Ask the benefits office for the current appeal document.
What changes by state: Which mandates and which external-review option apply to a fully insured plan.
Where I read this
- ERISA — U.S. Department of Labor, read August 27, 2026