The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
I’ve been around this business long enough to know that not every opinion ages well. Some soften, some mature, and some just fade away as experience replaces instinct. I used to think rap music had nothing to offer. I was...more
Key Takeaways - The Louisiana Insurance Department issued Bulletin 2026-07 reminding TPAs of their due diligence obligations when entering into agreements with entities offering insurance products or insurance services in...more
At this time, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board requires all Request for Further Action by Insurer/Employer forms (Form RFA-2) be submitted electronically via eCase – paper RFA-2 forms are no longer accepted or...more
In Wagner v. Arizona Municipal Risk Retention Pool, the Arizona Court of Appeals has reiterated that third party administrators are not liable to insureds for bad faith where there is no contractual nexus between the third...more
The Commonwealth Court’s groundbreaking decision has found against Scomed, ruling that suppliers of medical goods such as Scomed (as opposed to providers of healthcare services), are not “health care providers,” and as such...more
The retirement plan industry loves to talk about value, but it keeps pricing itself as if value doesn’t matter. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the constant race to the bottom on provider fees. TPAs, recordkeepers, and...more
As a retirement plan attorney, I can tell you this with certainty: TPAs are rarely sued because they miscalculated a contribution by a few dollars. Math errors happen. The industry knows how to fix them. Lawsuits don’t come...more
Every plan provider says the same thing: “We work with everyone.” That sounds inclusive, but it’s terrible marketing and even worse strategy. The most successful TPAs and advisors I know don’t chase everyone—they own niches....more
PEPs were sold to the retirement plan industry as the answer to everything—lower costs, better governance, and less fiduciary risk for employers. What doesn’t get enough attention is the new layer of conflicts that PEPs can...more
Chief Justice John Marshall famously wrote in McCulloch v. Marylandthat “the power to tax is the power to destroy.” In today’s retirement plan business, I’d argue there’s a modern parallel: the power to assign a financial...more
I ’ve been in the 401(k) business long enough to remember when thirdparty administrators were mysterious creatures that lived somewhere between the recordkeeper and the plan sponsor, occasionally emerging to ask for census...more
Key Takeaways: A Florida-based insurer was recently fined by the Texas Department of Insurance for failing to ensure the competent administration of its programs by working with an unlicensed TPA and failing to conduct...more
On February 3, 2026, Congress passed and the President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (“CAA 26”), a legislative package that funds several federal agencies, including the Departments of Labor and Health and...more
For years, plan providers survived on a simple premise: do solid work, keep clients happy, and the business will come. That world doesn’t exist anymore....more
Plan sponsors are often surprised to learn that when their advisor, TPA, and recordkeeper disagree, the conflict doesn’t protect the plan sponsor—it exposes them....more
When a retirement plan error surfaces, the first reaction is almost always the same: finger-pointing. The sponsor looks to the advisor. The advisor looks to the TPA. The TPA looks to the recordkeeper. And somewhere in the...more
Every plan sponsor owns a plan document. Very few read it. Fewer understand it. And almost none use it as the operating manual it was designed to be....more
A recent federal district court decision highlights a little known but significant risk faced by employers with welfare benefit plans that rely on medical provider and facility networks supplied by insurance carriers or...more
Key Takeaways: Alaska’s new TPA licensing requirements take effect Jan. 1, 2026. Senate Bill 132 eliminates a key exemptions and expands who must be licensed as a Third Party Administrator in the state....more
If after decades of advising retirement-plans I learned one thing, it’s this: The law doesn’t reward you for almost doing everything right — it rewards you for doing it right, and documenting you did it. So when I read the...more
Maine’s new Act to Improve Accountability and Understanding of Data in Insurance Transactions (the “Audit Act” or “Act”) prohibits Maine-licensed third party administrators (“TPAs”) and pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”) from...more
If you’ve been to one of That 401(k) Conferences before, you already know it’s not your typical industry event. No fluorescent hotel ballroom, no generic panel on “fiduciary best practices,” and definitely no dry chicken...more
Here’s a story straight from the trenches of the 401(k) world: the parties in a long-running excessive-fee lawsuit over the $2.6 billion Ferguson Enterprises LLC 401(k) plan have reached a settlement for $1.8 million....more
I f you’ve worked in the 401(k) business long enough, you know that survival isn’t guaranteed. It’s a world that’s part Wall Street, part Mad Max, and part The Hunger Games, where recordkeepers merge faster than tributes...more
EEOC allegations ring true. The following is based only on the allegations in a lawsuit that was filed this week by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The employer hasn’t had a chance to give its side of the...more