"Plan sponsors should take this ruling as an opportunity to review and strengthen their beneficiary designation procedures ... First, ensure that plan documents clearly articulate the methods by which participants may designate or change beneficiaries ... Second, train HR personnel to recognize informal beneficiary change requests ... Third, consider implementing confirmation systems that notify participants when beneficiary changes have been successfully processed ... Fourth, consider conducting a beneficiary designation review and audit." [Packaging Corp. of Am. Thrift Plan for Hourly Emps. v. Langdon, No. 25-1859 (7th Cir. Feb. 2, 2026)] MORE >>
"In all four of its amicus curia briefs, the DOL has explained its position that, where a plan allows forfeitures to be used to offset employer contributions or pay plan expenses, there is no breach of fiduciary duty where a plan fiduciary decides to use forfeitures to offset employer contributions." MORE >>
19 pages. Topics: [1] Federal legislation and regulations; [2] Administration healthcare proposal; [3] Deep dive on Notice 2026-5; [4] Litigation update; and [5] Grab bag. MORE >>
"By shifting many administrative and fiduciary duties to a pooled plan provider (PPP), employers can spend less time managing plan mechanics and more time focusing on their business and employees. That said, a PEP does not eliminate employer responsibility entirely ... [It] creates a clearer, more efficient division of responsibilities that often offers employers greater peace of mind." MORE >>
"[O]ne of the most significant parts of the law -- the delinking of PBM compensation from the price of a drug in Medicare Part D -- eluded employer groups. This is a provision in the new law that only applies to Medicare Part D.... Employers ... didn't get a ban on spread pricing ... What the law does include for employers is a requirement for PBMs to provide more detailed reporting to plan sponsors ... In addition, PBMs are mandated to pass along all rebates, discounts, fees and other payments they receive on drugs directly to employers or group health plans." MORE >>
"The proposal builds on recent national efforts to lower healthcare costs and reinforce transparency across the supply chain. By holding PBMs accountable and requiring them to operate in full view of the plans they serve, the rule is designed to empower employers to negotiate more favorable terms and ultimately reduce prescription drug spending. If finalized, the regulation represents a decisive step towards a more transparent pharmacy benefits system -- one that aligns business practices with the interests of workers and their families." MORE >>
"[A]rtificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are seen as major catalysts in plan administration and participant experience. AI is anticipated to enhance personalized financial guidance, predictive modeling, and customized communications." MORE >>
"[It] is not necessary to garner comprehensive familiarity with everything that's involved in these programs in order to provide the support clients need.... [T]hese three stacks are shaping up ... Each of these stacks seems to be developing their own dialect and focus.... Each of these stacks seems to be developing their own dialect and focus." MORE >>
"An employee's medical condition may implicate both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) at the same time, but the two laws use distinct eligibility frameworks and impose different obligations for employers. Understanding the differences between the two laws, and where they overlap, is critical to compliant leave and accommodation administration." MORE >>
"By expanding their allegations against ERISA plans, plaintiff firms unlocked the ability to sue individual plan sponsors, and sometimes individual plans, multiple times.... [O]ver a dozen companies ... faced multiple class ERISA lawsuits over the past two years, some by the same plaintiff firm. [This article provides an] analysis of ERISA litigation ... to highlight its unfairness to the plan sponsor community, and its impact on the fiduciary liability insurance market." MORE >>
"The net financial position of the single-employer insurance program is projected to increase significantly over the next 10 years ... The net financial position of the multiemployer insurance program is likely to remain positive for more than 40 years." MORE >>
"[T]he confidence boost tied to having an advisor is actually most pronounced among lower-balance savers. In other words, professional guidance may be especially impactful for younger employees who are still in the early stages of building wealth. That matters, because Gen Z is already engaging with retirement saving." MORE >>
"The court applied abuse‑of‑discretion review and concluded that the denial was supported by the plan's medical‑necessity criteria and the administrative record. The dissent, however, argued that the majority failed to meaningfully account for a structural conflict of interest and for the administrator's handling of treating‑provider evidence and prior failed lower levels of care." [R.R. v. California Physicians' Service d/b/a Blue Shield of California, No. 24-6337 (9th Cir. Jan. 27, 2026; unpub.) MORE >>
"[T]he Second Circuit ... [held] that the plan administrator did not act arbitrarily and capriciously in denying continued residential and partial hospitalization treatment for a dependent suffering from a severe eating disorder and related mental health conditions. The decision reinforces the breadth of deference afforded to administrators operating under a discretionary grant and sharply cabins efforts to use Wit v. United Behavioral Health to invalidate level-of-care guidelines outside the Ninth Circuit." [Savage v. Rabobank Med. Plan, No. 24-2759 (2d Cir. Feb. 5, 2026; unpub.] MORE >>
"The risk that receives the least amount of attention is likely a cognitive decline ... Studies have shown that financial literacy peaks in the mid-50s and declines steadily thereafter, even among those without diagnosed cognitive impairment. The ability to evaluate complex financial investment decisions, recognize fraud, and manage tax-efficient withdrawals diminishes exactly when the stakes are the highest." MORE >>
"[T]he main advantage of delaying until later in the year is a bit of extra tax-deferred compounding.... The big benefit to taking RMDs as soon as possible is to ensure that you don't forget and risk a penalty. ... Taking distributions semiannually, quarterly, or monthly, with those distributions equaling the full-year RMD amount, helps ensure that you receive a range of prices for the assets that you sell." MORE >>
"Pharmaceutical manufacturers weren't the only stakeholders cheering greater regulation for PBMs. Employers, which face enhanced fiduciary duties under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA), have also called for more oversight of the industry, especially as they're often kept in the dark about what their charges look like." MORE >>
"From 2014 to 2023, prices for medical services rose by less than the overall rate of inflation. Increased enrollment has driven up Medicare costs (as baby boomers retire) and Medicaid costs (as eligibility expands). But the main factor behind higher insurance expenses has been greater utilization per enrollee, which has grown by roughly 20 percent across both public entitlements and private insurance." MORE >>
"As the 20‑year mark approaches, now is the perfect moment for a quick compliance check. Over time, plan administration often drifts from what the written document actually says. And with Code Section 409A's unforgiving rules, even small mismatches can trigger significant tax implications for the participant, including immediate income inclusion, a 20% penalty tax on the amount involved, and additional penalties and interest. Worse yet, Code Section 409A often limits an employer's ability to fix problems simply by amending the written plan document." MORE >>
"[1] You sold any or all of the shares at the time of RSU vesting, option exercise, or ESPP purchase ... [2] You report a stock sale with the unadjusted cost basis shown on Form 1099-B from your broker ... [3] You report W-2 income received from equity compensation ... [4] You exercised incentive stock options and held the shares ... [5] You triggered the AMT from an ISO exercise/hold in an earlier tax year." MORE >>
"[The authors] summarize economic projections of moving to a single-payer health care system and look at how they compare with proposed federal cuts, based on analyses of the New York Health Act (NYHA) (A1466/S3425), a universal public health coverage bill in front of the New York State Legislature. [They] also outline how state plans such as the NYHA could avoid the need for federal waivers and explain why now is an especially important time for state-based reform." MORE >>
Rev. Dec. 2025; 85 pages. "This publication gives you the information you need to determine the tax treatment of your pension and annuity income under the General Rule.... The General Rule is one of the two methods used to figure the tax-free part of each annuity payment based on the ratio of your investment in the contract to the total expected return." MORE >>
"In response to recommendations from the [GAO], the IRS has made the new model notices easier for participants to read and is urging plans to make each notice available as soon as possible before the distribution date so the participant can make educated decisions about whether to receive or roll over the distribution.... Plan administrators that use the safe-harbor notice should switch to the new model notices as soon as possible." MORE >>
"Through the website, patients will be able to access large discounts on many of the most popular and highest-priced medicines in the country, paying prices in line with the lowest paid by other developed nations (known as the most-favored-nation, or MFN, price)." MORE >>
"[T]he government funding bill that was signed into law on February 3, 2026 ... contains three reforms that apply to Medicare Part D and two that apply to commercial PBMs.... DOL issued a proposed rule on January 29, 2026, to require commercial PBMs to report on several transparency measures to plan fiduciaries of self-insured group health plans subject to [ERISA]." MORE >>
