The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a $600,000 settlement with an entity covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) following a phishing attack. The settlement involves PIH Health, Inc., a California-based health network.  The HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) began investigating the incident after receiving a report in January 2020 that a Read More

Retirement plan trading activity was high in the first quarter of 2025 —even before Trump announced his new tariff policy—and has fluctuated significantly on a day-to-day basis since. As a result, March 2025 was the most active month for retirement plan trading since 2020. However, the S&P 500 Index recently lost $2.4 trillion in one day. Not surprisingly, Americans are panicking as they see their retirement Read More

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2025. The Act requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue a final report on the prescription drug market. The report must include the overall impact of how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and other third parties affect how much patients and insurance companies pay for drugs. The FTC released an Read More

Rep. Tim Wahlberg, R-Mich., has reintroduced the Association Health Plan (AHP) Acts bill, which now may have a better chance of success. AHPs allow individuals or employers to join together to purchase health care coverage more easily. Walberg has been a long-time supporter of AHPs and has introduced similar bills since 2018. However, he now serves as the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Read More

Following a rare trial in a 401(k) excessive fee lawsuit in a New York federal district court, the jury awarded more than $38 million to over 26,000 current and former bank employees. The case is Khan et al. v. Board of Directors of Pentegra Defined Contribution Plan, No. 7:2020cv07561 (S.D.N.Y. 2023). The case involves the Multiple Employer Defined Contribution Plan for Financial Institutions, which Pentegra’s Read More

A federal district court has ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preempts a state’s “any willing provider” (AWP) law as applied to self-insured health plans. The case is McKee Foods Corp. v. BFP, Inc., 2025 WL 968404 (E.D. Tenn. 2025). In McKee, an employer offered a self-insured health plan, including prescription drug benefits. The plan’s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) excluded a Read More

In Faulk Company, Inc. v. Becerra, 2025 WL1085080 (N.D. Tex. 2025), an employer sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for failure to offer minimum essential coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The suit arose after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a Letter 226-J to the employer, which proposed shared responsibility penalties for this ACA violation. Before the IRS can propose Read More