The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has decided to let major newgroup disability insurance claim reviewstandards take effect April 1, officials have announced.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration(EBSA), the DOL division in charge of employee benefits matters,agreed in November to push the effective dateback to April 1, from Jan. 1, to give disability insurers,employers, and benefit plan administrators and trade groups moretime to prove that the new regulations would hurt the groupdisability market.

The DOL received about 200 comment letters after it postponedthe effective date of the regulations, but "only a few commentsresponded substantively to the department's request forquantitative data to support assertions that the final rule woulddrive up disability benefit plan costs by more than the departmenthad predicted, cause an increase in litigation, and consequentlyreduce workers' access to disability insurance protections,'officials say in an announcement of the decision.