"The proposed regulation is responsive to [EO 14330] and, in fact, goes beyond it by describing the criteria that apply to all investments for participant-directed plans, including both alternative assets and traditional assets. That means that fiduciaries of plans that don't include alternative investments need to pay attention to this proposal as well. Also, while the EO limited itself to allocations to alternative investments as parts of asset allocation investments and strategies, the proposal is much broader -- it covers the selection of standalone alternative investments." MORE >>
"This article outlines the history of the DOL's alternative investment guidance, provides an overview of the proposed regulation, and identifies certain provisions that should be clarified in the final regulation to further the goal of creating a workable fiduciary safe harbor." MORE >>
"[FAB 2026-01] is a positive development for plan sponsors and fiduciaries, as on the whole it suggests a more restrained and targeted enforcement approach: Likely fewer investigations overall, particularly those based on novel or unsettled legal theories or on ESOP valuations. Greater focus on clear-cut violations, especially those involving conflicts of interest or significant participant harm. Increased focus on fiduciary duty of loyalty and reduced emphasis on standalone prudence claims, absent loyalty concerns. More centralized decision-making within EBSA, leading to greater consistency across regions." MORE >>
"Key results for 2025: The funded percentage increased from 101.1% to 103.8%. The funded status surplus improved from $13.4 billion to $48.1 billion. The average return on investments was 8.80%. The average discount rate decreased from 5.39% to 5.31%. The average expected return on assets assumption increased from 6.54% to 6.61%." MORE >>
"Recordkeepers can expect a greater amount of review activity from plan sponsors through 2026 ... 27% of plan sponsors will conduct a new recordkeeper search this year and 56% plan to run a due diligence review to benchmark recordkeeping fees and services. All plan segments, aside from large employers, said they expect to perform a review of their recordkeeping partners." MORE >>
"Last year, legislatures in Arizona, Maryland, Nebraska, and Texas enacted bills to address AI use in health insurance determinations.... [T]his post summarizes legislation under consideration in the first quarter of 2026 that governs health insurers' use of AI in determinations such as prior authorization and utilization review." MORE >>
"Employers, lawmakers, patient advocates, price transparency groups and more urged the [DOL] to quickly finalize a rule that would force pharmacy benefit managers ... to share more pricing and compensation information. PBMs did not feel the same, according to industry comments on the proposed regulation." MORE >>
"The rule gives plan sponsors a defensible process framework they've never had before, brings real scrutiny to fee practices that have long harmed participants, and could help fiduciaries make better-documented decisions regardless of where they land on the active-versus-passive spectrum.... Key provisions are either unenforceable from a participant's perspective, built on a fee disclosure framework that remains broken, or unlikely to produce real-world change despite the regulatory machinery behind them." MORE >>
"Once annuitization occurs, the remaining capital is no longer accessible, transferable, or responsive to changing circumstances. That decision locks in a terminal wealth outcome at the moment of conversion, often eliminating residual value altogether unless specific (and typically costly) riders are in place. A fiduciary evaluating whether to recommend or include such an annuity must therefore weigh not just the stability of income provided, but the impact on total terminal wealth." MORE >>
"Speaking [April 21] at Politico's Health Care Summit, the celebrity entrepreneur and cofounder of Cost Plus Drugs, a direct-purchase marketplace for generic drugs, painted the picture of an industry cowed by major insurers and pharmacy benefit managers." MORE >>
"Technical Release 2026-01 has been framed as a narrow clarification on proxy voting.... It is something far more consequential: [1] A major expansion of fiduciary status -- mostly for consultants. [2] A political intervention into ESG and proxy voting.... [3] [A] quiet weakening of ERISA's federal protections by deferring to weak state regulatory regimes on annuities and CITs." MORE >>
"Reason's '2025 Pension Solvency and Performance Report' characterizes public pensions as operating continuously on a precipice, one market downturn from falling into an abyss and sending their sponsoring governments to fiscal ruin. Reason relies on specious comparisons of public pension plans and selective data while ignoring industry standards and practices, to present a pessimistic image of public pensions that are in financial and actuarial peril and investing at an inappropriately high level of risk." MORE >>
"Rather than continuing to be squeezed by ever-higher—and often unsubstantiated—costs from traditional health insurance and pharmacy benefit management (PBM) firms, business are instead now putting their contracts up for bids from prospective partners that are willing and able to offer more affordable options." MORE >>
"The proposed regulations do not resolve some of the key ERISA fiduciary issues associated with alternative investments: [1] The inherent lack of liquidity still presents an operational issue for 401(k) plans ... [2] The inherent valuation challenges still present an operational issue for 401(k) plans with respect to processing distributions ... [3] The inherent lack of transparency and complexity can make it challenging for plan fiduciaries to properly evaluate potential alternative investments.... [4] Plaintiffs' attorneys have already indicated they intend to hold plan fiduciaries accountable if plans offer alternative investments." MORE >>
"By doing nothing more than signing termination amendments, JJDD has created several problems. Mr. Icicle is particularly alarmed that they did not amend the cash balance plan to freeze benefits or tell participants about the termination, which means benefits have been accruing to plan participants all this time.... [W]hile the 401(k) plan does not suffer from the benefit accrual problem (and there was no obligation to provide participant notice), it has issues of its own.... And, not incidentally, no Forms 5500 had been filed for the two plans since they were 'terminated.' " MORE >>
"Eligible employees may file an application for benefits within sixty days before the anticipated start date of leave and no later than sixty days after the start date.... Employers have five business days to respond to notice of an employee's submitted claim application.... The final regulations allow for the reduction of FAMLI eligibility by an employee's federal [FMLA] use if the FMLA leave also qualified for FAMLI, the employer notified the employee of their potential FAMLI eligibility, and the employee did not apply." MORE >>
"[This case] gives self-funded ERISA plan sponsors in the Sixth Circuit helpful guidance on where to draw the line between the permitted state PBM regulations described in Rutledge and ERISA-protected plan design. The Sixth Circuit made clear that a state may not require a self-funded ERISA health plan to open its pharmacy network to any willing pharmacy if doing so takes away the employer's ability to decide which pharmacies will participate." [McKee Foods Corporation v. BFP Inc., No. 25-5416 (6th Cir. Apr. 7, 2026)] MORE >>
11 pages. "The safe harbor factors would apply to the initial decision to select an investment option but not ongoing monitoring of the investment.... Fiduciaries could demonstrate compliance with any safe harbor factor by relying on recommendations from an investment advice fiduciary or delegating investment selection responsibility to a professional investment manager.... The proposal doesn't specify when the safe harbor would take effect. Nor does DOL explain the proposal's implications for investment selection decisions made before issuance of a final regulation." MORE >>
"This webpage provides data on how the IDR process is working, including estimates of the average prices emerging from IDR, qualifying payment amounts (QPAs) calculated by health plans, and comparisons of plan and provider offers, all expressed as percentages of Medicare’s payment rates for the same services. It also includes information on the characteristics of the providers and firms using the IDR process." MORE >>
"Magistrate Judge Karen Scott ... dismissed the federal claims Anthem brought against HaloMD, a billing company, and its co-defendants.... [S]he found that the No Surprises Act allows courts to review arbitration decisions only under very narrow circumstances -- corruption, fraud, or misconduct that could not have been discovered during the arbitration itself, such as bribery, undisclosed bias, or willfully destroyed evidence. Anthem, the judge said, had not met that bar." [Anthem Blue Cross v. HaloMD LLC, No. 25-1467 (C.D. Calif. Apr. 9, 2026 )] MORE >>
"This industry-leading resource aims to educate plan sponsors, retirement plan advisors, consultants and fiduciaries about the full range of retirement income solutions available in the defined contribution marketplace. The Framework provides standardized, side-by-side data on retirement income products from a wide range of leading providers, helping retirement industry professionals make informed comparisons of product structures, fee models, guarantee features, liquidity options, and portability aspects." MORE >>
"As more employees work past traditional retirement age, pension and benefit systems are colliding with assumptions built for a workforce that no longer exists. Plans that are still built around the long-abandoned idea of mandatory retirement at age 65 -- once the standard mandatory retirement -- now face tax, legal and human-rights challenges as employees remain working into their late 60s and early 70s. The result is a growing disconnect between modern economic realities and retirement rules rooted in policy decisions made nearly a century ago." MORE >>
"One of the most notable aspects of [FAB 2026-01] is that EBSA plans to focus its enforcement efforts on cases that pose meaningful harm to the employee benefits system, especially those involving bad faith conduct.... They have an express focus on breaches of the fiduciary duty of loyalty. However, just as important, the DOL emphasized that ERISA is a 'law of process, not results.' ... [T]he agency says it generally won't second‑guess fiduciary decisions where a prudent process was followed." MORE >>
"Billions of dollars and implications for the business models of insurers and pricing vendors are on the line in litigation against MultiPlan (now known as Claritev) and Zelis, along with their insurer clients. In each case, plaintiff providers say insurers conspired with a pricing intermediary to underpay out-of-network claims by deploying repricing tools or algorithms. Both vendors are alleged to have served as a hub that coordinates prices among insurers that otherwise would compete with one another on price." MORE >>
