Under ERISA, the federal law governing welfare benefit plans, the Wrap SPD and all benefit component documents (e.g., certificates of insurance, benefit booklets, contracts, etc.) must be distributed to each plan participant.

For ERISA-covered plans, the Plan Administrator (typically the employer) is the entity designated in the Plan Document and SPD with the legal responsibility for administration of the Plan.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a regulation in late 2016 to require group health plans providing disability benefits to comply with additional procedural requirements for disability benefit claims. The regulation, which was to apply to disability claims filed on or after January 1, 2018, would have brought disability claims procedures more in line with the procedures that currently apply to claims for group health benefits under the Affordable Care Act.

ERISA has separate and distinct legal requirements for summary plan descriptions (SPDs) and plan documents. Under the law, SPDs must be written in a manner "calculated to be understood by the average plan participant."

The main objective of a Wrap SPD and Plan Document is to wrap all benefit component plans together into a single Welfare Benefit Plan. Therefore, the Wrap Plan Year refers to the Wrap Welfare Benefit Plan, which incorporates all other welfare plans (along with insurance contracts and other relevant documents) into a single plan.