"[1] Executive actions affecting health plans ... [2] Budget and spending priorities ... [3] Tax reforms and implications ... [4] Staffing cuts and their impact ... [5] Reducing employer reporting burdens ... [6] ACA market reforms ... [7] HIPAA and reproductive health privacy ... [8] Mental health parity compliance ... [9] FICA tax avoidance schemes."  MORE >>

"Midyear changes are not permitted unless an election change event occurs that fits within one of the exceptions available under applicable IRS rules. A change in an employee’s financial condition by itself is not a permitted election change event, even if it affects the employee’s anticipated medical expenses."  MORE >>

"Although the Missouri Supreme Court case has been decided, there is still another pending legal challenge to the Missouri sick time mandate, specifically from the State legislature.... In addition to the above legal challenges, April 2025 has seen the release of Missouri Earned Paid Sick Time FAQs from the Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations, and an employer notice and posting obligation come to pass."  MORE >>

"An examination of recent litigation ... challenging allegedly excessive fees paid by ERISA health plan sponsors in their fiduciary capacity to PBMs, including an analysis of provisions in agreements between employers and PBMs."  MORE >>

"After the widely reported initial jump in costs related to initiation of GLP‑1 medications, cost growth rates diverge from the GLP‑1 treatment group, trending at half the rate of a precisely matched control group in the last 12 months of the analysis period.... GLP‑1 users experienced a 44 percent reduction in risk of hospitalizations caused by major adverse cardiovascular events (e.g., stroke, heart attack and heart failure) over the 24 months following therapy initiation."  MORE >>

"Lifestyle and behavior change programs that focus on nutrition, physical activity, and mental health can significantly reduce reliance on GLP-1 drugs to sustain weight loss.... Step therapy is a cost containment strategy that requires patients to try less expensive treatments before progressing to more costly options like GLP-1 drugs.... Requiring prior authorization for GLP-1 drugs prescribed for uses beyond diabetes treatment can help employers control costs and ensure the medications are used appropriately."  MORE >>

"Mental Health Parity is not just about compliance -- it's about ensuring employees use the support available to them. Therapy, inpatient care, and mental health treatment are covered just like medical services. Organizations that communicate this effectively see lower absenteeism, better engagement, and a healthier workplace."  MORE >>

"A new bipartisan bill -- the More Paid Leave for More Americans Act [HR 3089 and HR 3090] -- aims to boost paid family leave access through a mix of state grants and interstate coordination. For employers, this could mean more consistent multistate compliance rules down the line -- but also a growing patchwork in the short term. Here's what's in the bill and what it could mean for your workplace."  MORE >>

"[T]his study examines the relationship between caregiving, household unsecured debt levels, and retirement savings. It then examines whether the introduction of California's paid family leave policy (PFL), which offers employees up to eight weeks of paid leave, impacts this relationship.... [The study finds] suggestive evidence that PFL may reduce unsecured debts and increase retirement savings for California caregiver-households. This underscores the potential for PFL to provide, albeit limited, financial security to caregiver-households, thereby advocating for its adoption in other states."  MORE >>

"This article highlights a striking example of pointless complexity: the 24 (or more) separate tax-preferred, account-based health spending arrangements.... Each arrangement comes with a different combination of rules about qualifying employers and individuals, eligible expenses, contribution sources, contribution limits, use by spouses and dependents, carryover of unused funds from one year to the next, substantiation of reimbursed expenses, interaction with other coverage, and other parameters.... [W]hatever one thinks of these arrangements overall or of any specific variant, it is difficult to argue that we need so many of them."  MORE >>

"[I]ndividuals and businesses in parts of Virginia affected by severe winter storms and flooding that began on Feb. 10, 2025 ... now have until Nov. 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.... [I]ndividuals and households that reside or have a business in Amelia, Appomattox, Bedford, Bland, and Botetourt counties; the City of Bristol; and Buchanan, Buckingham, Campbell, Carroll, Charlotte, Craig, Cumberland, Dickenson, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Grayson, Halifax, Lee, Lunenburg, Montgomery, Nottoway, Page, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Pulaski, Rockingham, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe Counties qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>

"Some of the largest tax expenditures found in the Internal Revenue Code provide tax-favored treatment for a variety of popular employee benefit programs. As such, reductions, caps or elimination of these provisions are often mentioned as potential revenue offset candidates to help pay for tax cuts in other areas."  MORE >>