Bulletin 26-13: Filing Instructions for Commercially Insured Equivalent Private Insurance Plans under the Maryland Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (Title 8.3, Labor and Employment)

Date: June 2, 2026

To: Insurers Intending to Offer Family and Medical Leave Insurance Policies in Maryland

Re: Filing Instructions for Commercially Insured Equivalent Private Insurance Plans under the Maryland Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (Title 8.3, Labor and Employment)

The purpose of this Bulletin is to provide guidance to insurers regarding filing requirements for form and rate filings for products intended to be offered as Equivalent Private Insurance Plans (“EPIPs") in Maryland under the state's Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program.

Background and Authority

In 2022, the Maryland General Assembly passed Senate Bill 275, Chapter 48 (the “Time to Care Act"), establishing a paid family and medical leave program for workers across the state. This Act requires employers (with limited exceptions) to provide paid family and medical leave and job protection benefits to Maryland employees. It also establishes the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (“FAMLI Program") to provide benefits for family and medical leave. The FAMLI Program is administered through the FAMLI Division at the Maryland Department of Labor (“Division").

All employers are required to participate in the FAMLI Program and to fund the program by both payroll contributions from employees and contributions from the employer. In lieu of participating in the state's program, Labor and Employment Article Section 8.3-705 allows employers to meet their FAMLI obligations through an EPIP which can be either a self-funded plan or a fully-insured private insurance plan. All EPIPs must provide benefits that are the same as or greater than the benefits provided under the State's FAMLI Program (COMAR 09.42).

Because a commercially insured EPIP is an insurance product, insurers must file associated policy forms and rates with the Maryland Insurance Administration (“Administration") for review and approval. The forms and rates must comply with the Insurance Article, Annotated Code of Maryland and COMAR Title 31, in addition to Labor and Employment Article 8.3 and COMAR Title 09. See § 12-203 of the Insurance Article and COMAR 31.10.01.03A. Self-funded EPIPs are not considered insurance, and are not required to be filed with the Administration.

General Filing Instructions

The MIA will issue specific instructions for filing a commercially insured EPIP. The following general requirements apply to these filings:

Forms and Rates must be submitted in the same filing through the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (“SERFF").
Filings must be submitted as group filings and the forms to be filed must include a master policy, certificate, and policy application.
Rates and an actuarial memorandum must be submitted.

A certificate of coverage that sets forth the essential elements of the group contract is required to be provided to employees covered under a commercially insured EPIP. However, insurers are reminded that they are not required to directly issue an employee-specific certificate to each individual covered under the group plan. Instead, in accordance with COMAR 31.10.37.04B and COMAR 31.11.10.04J, an insurer may satisfy its obligation to deliver a certificate by:

Providing the certificate to the group policyholder (employer) for delivery to each employee; or
Making the certificate available to the employee on the internet and providing written notice of the availability of the certificate on the internet to the group policyholder (employer) for the employer to provide delivery to each employee.

All policies must include both family leave and medical leave benefits. No other additional or supplemental benefits are permitted to be included in a commercially insured EPIP.

A filing for family leave only or medical leave only will not qualify as an EPIP. A rider attached to a previously approved disability insurance policy will not qualify as an EPIP.

All filings for commercially insured EPIPs intended to be offered with an effective date of January 1, 2028 for the first year of the FAMLI Program must be submitted to the Administration no later than September 30, 2026.

Other Information

The Administration is developing an Employer Policy/Certificate Template (“Template") that insurers must use as a guide when drafting a commercially insured EPIP contract. The Template will identify the required provisions that must be included in every EPIP contract filed with the Administration. With the exception of items that the Template expressly requires insurers to include verbatim, insurers will have flexibility to deviate from the exact language and formatting of the template, as long as the substantive requirements of the template are satisfied. However, forms that conform closely to the language and formatting of the Template will receive an expedited review by the Administration. The Template will be posted on the Administration's website at least 90 days before the filing deadline specified above. A checklist of applicable laws, regulations, and other filing requirements for EPIPs will also be posted on the Administration's website, or uploaded to SERFF, prior to the filing deadline.

Given the unique nature of commercially insured EPIPs and the proposed timing under the FAMLI program for an employer to submit to the Division a declaration of intent to provide an EPIP, the Administration will allow insurers, following issuance of this bulletin, to release illustrative rate quotes for a proposed EPIP product prior to the date the EPIP is formally filed with and approved by the Administration. To ensure that an “illustrative" quote does not purport to be an “estimate…that misrepresents the terms of the policy issued or to be issued" (See § 27-202(1) of the Insurance Article), insurers must provide clear disclosure that such preliminary illustrative quotes are not actual quotes, and that the final rates are subject to approval by the Administration, and may be higher or lower than the illustrated rates.

Furthermore, in consideration of the market dynamics for EPIPs and the availability of corresponding state-provided coverage under the FAMLI Program, the Administration will permit the insurer practice of bundling an EPIP with another core insurance product, such as life or disability income, offered by the same insurer. The bundled products must be separate contracts, but the Administration will not prohibit an insurer from requiring an employer to purchase the core product from the insurer in order to purchase the insurer's EPIP.

Once the Administration has approved the forms and rates for a commercially insured EPIP, the Division will accept the Administration's approval as confirmation that the policy meets all of the requirements of an EPIP. This means the Division will not perform a separate review of the policy forms and rates during the Division's review of an employer's application to offer an EPIP instead of participating in the Program.

Questions about this Bulletin may be directed to the Life/Health Section of the Maryland Insurance Administration at 410-468-2170.

MARIE GRANT
Commissioner

By: Signature on Original

Megan Mason
Associate Commissioner,
Life and Health

Form and Rate Filing Instructions for FAMLI Program Commercially Insured EPIPS

This document provides instructions for insurance carriers (“carriers") to submit form and rate filings to the Maryland Insurance Administration (“Administration") for commercially insured Equivalent Private Insurance Plans (“EPIPs") under the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (“FAMLI") program.

General Filing Requirements

Forms and rates for FAMLI EPIPs must be submitted, with the filings fees required by § 2-112(a)(10) of the Insurance Article, in the same filing under the SERFF Filing Type: Form/Rate. The Administration will not accept separate form and rate filings.
EPIP filings must be submitted with a Market Type of “Group" and a Group Market Type of “Employer," and must be filed using the SERFF TOI “H11G Group Health - Disability Income" with the sub-TOI “H11G.006 - Paid Family Leave."
EPIP products must be filed as stand-alone products, and cannot be offered as a rider to an existing product.
All EPIP policies must include both family leave and medical leave benefits. A filing for family leave only or medical leave only will not qualify as an EPIP.
No benefits other than those specifically provided for in §8.3-101 et. seq., Labor and Employment may be offered in the EPIP policy or attached as a rider or amendment to the EPIP policy form.
EPIP filings with a requested effective date of January 1, 2028 must be submitted by September 30, 2026. Filings submitted after that date will not be considered for approval to be offered during the first year that the FAMLI Program takes effect.

The Administration will review all FAMLI EPIP filings to ensure forms and rates are consistent with the requirements of the FAMLI program. If forms and rates meet all requirements, the Administration will approve the filing and notify the FAMLI Division at the Maryland Department of Labor (“Division") that the forms qualify as approved EPIPs.

Rate Filing Requirements
Carriers must file premium rates and an actuarial memorandum as required by COMAR 31.10.01.03A.

Rate filings should contain all rating factors that will be used in rating as well as a clear description and demonstration of the rating formula that will be used.
The actuarial memorandum should contain a summary description of the benefits, a description of the marketing and underwriting methods, a description of the renewability provisions and a description of how rates vary by group and a description of the data sources and methodologies used in calculating the rate manual.
The actuarial memorandum should contain both a total target loss ratio and a breakdown of retention between commissions, premium taxes, general administrative expenses, and profit/risk margin.

Form Filing Requirements
The following forms must be submitted for an EPIP:

Group policy*
Certificate
Group application
*The group policy may be set up as a wrap policy as long as there is an incorporation provision.

The forms must include a form number in the lower left hand corner of each page of the form. The Administration will not accept EPIP contracts filed on an insert page basis or sectional basis as described in COMAR 31.04.17.04.

Policy form numbers must begin with “FAMLI" and end with a date in the format MM/YY (e.g. 09/26). The carrier can use any combination of letters or numbers after “FAMLI" and before the date. Note that once approved, the policy form number will be considered the EPIP plan number by the Division.

Certificate form numbers must be the same as the policy form number with a “-C" before the date. Group applications must be the same as the policy form number with an “-A" before the date. Below are examples of how the form numbers should look:

FAMLI-12345 (9/26) for the Group Policy—this will also be the EPIP plan number on file with the Division
FAMLI-12345-C (9/26) for the Certificate
FAMLI-12345-A (9/26) for the Group Application

Variable material will be permitted in the forms, provided the variability complies with COMAR 31.04.17.04A(2) and is explained in a statement of variability.

Forms must address the substantive requirements of the Employer Policy/Certificate Template that will be posted on the Administration's website. A filing that includes forms that do not address the substantive requirements of the Policy Template will be rejected, and the carrier will need to resubmit its filing after it has revised its forms to meet the requirements of the Policy Template.

The form filing must include a completed EPIP checklist that identifies where each applicable law, regulation, or other filing requirement referenced on the checklist is addressed in the filing. The carrier must be as specific as possible, identifying the form number, page number, and specific provision or paragraph where the requirement is addressed. The Administration will post a copy of the required EPIP checklist to the Administration's website and/or upload a copy to SERFF prior to the filing deadline.