2026 Health and Welfare Plan Challenges

BARBRI

This CLE webinar will provide ERISA counsel and advisers guidance on critical health and welfare plan compliance issues and challenges faced by plan sponsors and administrators. The speaker will discuss the impact of the fiduciary rules for health plans and HSAs, litigation updates and key issues, including potential new fiduciary duty claims, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), transparency issues, and other key issues for health and welfare plan sponsors, administrators, and their counsel.

Description

The legal landscape governing health and welfare plans is rapidly changing. New statutory mandates and regulatory changes from the Department of Labor (DOL) are imposing significant new obligations on plan sponsors, administrators, and their counsel. At the same time, new litigation risks are on the horizon and the DOL continues to aggressively audit group health and other welfare plans.

For example, recent PBM reform imposes significant administrative and fiduciary obligations for group health plan sponsors. These changes include mandatory rebate pass-throughs, delinking PBM compensation from drug prices, and stricter reporting requirements.

New litigation risks appear to be on the horizon as well. Law firms that brought hundreds of lawsuits against 401(k) plans seem poised to raise similar lawsuits against sponsors of group health plans. Ongoing litigation brought by participants in group health plans and their assignees continue without any sign of slowing down. And the DOL continues to aggressively audit group health plans, in particular with respect to their compliance with mental health parity laws.

Listen as the speaker discusses significant compliance issues for health plan sponsors, the impact of the fiduciary rules for health plans and HSAs, recent PBM developments and key issues, transparency issues, use of professional employer organizations, and other key issues for health and welfare plan sponsors, administrators, and their counsel.

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