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I disagree with this. If it's an asset purchase, the seller will continue on and can maintain their plan with no impact on the buyer's plan (old or new) whatsoever.

Sure thing. It's definitely an issue, but of course that's an issue with lots of benefits. For example, the OBBB also made permanent and indexed the ability for employers to provide tax-free student loan repayment assistance under §127. That section of the code contains no mechanism to avoid constructive receipt, and it's specifically excluded from the cafeteria plan safe harbor per the cite you copied in the original post. So just like tax-free employer Trump Account contributions, tax-free employer student loan repayment assistance is exclusively an employer option. If the guy in the cubicle next to you has student loan debt and gets $1k from the company, and you already repaid your student debt, might some people perceive a mild unfairness in that? Employee benefits are riddled with similar forms of unfairness. Like the larger employer contribution to the health plan for families, or the fact that families with lots of kids pay the same as families with one. The hope is you touch enough bases that everyone feels satisfied with the employer's overall strategy, and that you've hit enough contingencies as an employer to drive your recruiting/retention demands. Some really big name employers expressed interest in making contributions to Trump Accounts before the bill passed, but we'll see whether that actually occurs when the rubber hits the road on 7/4/26. Those prominent names will drive a lot of the market forces in either direction here I think.