In an article for HR.com’s Employee Benefits & Wellness Excellence issue, Doug Dahl, Noah Black and Will Gebo highlighted key issues to watch in benefits law for the remainder of 2024. Among the top three of these considerations for the rest of the year, the attorneys listed retirement plan regulations from SECURE 2.0, litigation surrounding pharmacy benefit managers (PBM), and welfare plan compensation disclosures and associated litigation.
On this last issue, the attorneys said disclosures now required by updates to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) for health plan service providers means there may be more cases in which plaintiffs claim excessive fees, such as in the ongoing Lewandowski v. Johnson and Johnson litigation.
“As all signs point to an uptick in these new health plan excessive fee cases and the scope of plan fiduciary duties continues to expand, actions by plan fiduciaries can be taken now to insulate against liability,” the attorneys wrote. “Plan sponsors should take care to comply with the new fee disclosure rules and monitor their welfare plans with the same eye towards reviewing fees as has been prudent for retirement plan fees.”
Three more issues to watch that the attorneys addressed include cybersecurity guidelines for retirement plan sponsors, gender-affirming care, and a lower ACA affordability threshold.
The full article, “Key Benefits Issues to Watch in 2024: A Comprehensive Guide,” was published in the July 2024 issue of HR.com’s Employee Benefits & Wellness Excellence publication and is available online.