ML BeneBits

The US administration recently issued an executive order to expand access to alternative investments in ERISA-governed retirement accounts. The order titled Democratizing Access to Alternative Investments for America's Workers aims to modernize retirement plan investment options by including alternative investments, such as private equity, private credit, real estate, and digital assets like cryptocurrency, as designated investment alternatives.

In a release that was fairly unsurprising in content, the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Ruling 2025-15 to address a payor’s tax withholding and reporting obligations with respect to stale and reissued retirement plan distribution checks. Importantly, to the extent that payors have been following the IRS’s prior guidance in Revenue Ruling 2019-19 and the existing reporting and withholding regulations, the ruling does not require any changes to existing practices.

President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) into law on July 4, 2025. The OBBB is a wide-ranging piece of legislation that introduces significant reforms across multiple areas of federal policy, including changes affecting group health plans in the areas of telehealth coverage and dependent care assistance.

The US District Court for the Northern District of Texas on June 18, 2025 vacated portions of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy (2024 Final Rule) related to reproductive healthcare privacy. The ruling in the case of Purl, M.D. v. US Department of Health and Human Services granted judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. Notably, the opinion only addressed reproductive healthcare privacy-related aspects of the 2024 Final Rule, and the court severed the provision of the 2024 Final Rule requiring updates to the HIPAA notice of privacy practices requirements relating to confidentiality of substance use disorder health records. That requirement remains intact and becomes effective February 16, 2026.

The US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) position on the appropriateness of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing strategies in ERISA-regulated retirement plans has ping-ponged for decades (as we’ve covered previously). A recent statement from Trump administration attorneys in a lawsuit challenging a Biden-era regulation on the topic indicates that the ball is likely sailing back to the other side of the table and specifically to a posture that is largely skeptical that ESG investment factors can comply with ERISA’s fiduciary duties.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) on May 12, 2025 to address the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States with the goal of ensuring Americans have access to most-favored-nation (MFN) pricing, which aligns drug prices in the United States with those in comparably developed countries.

The US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the Departments) announced their non-enforcement policy on May 15, 2025, indicating they will not enforce any new requirements imposed by the Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (2024 Final Rule) until a final court ruling on a lawsuit filed by the ERISA Industry Committee in the US District Court for the District of Columbia challenging certain provisions of the 2024 Final Rule—plus an additional 18 months.

The US Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury (together, the Departments) filed a motion to suspend the litigation proceedings in The ERISA Industry Committee vs. HHS et al. on May 9, 2025 while the government reconsiders final regulations implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). On May 12, the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted the stay.

The US Department of Labor recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, a temporary enforcement policy regarding the transfer of small retirement plan benefits to state unclaimed property funds. This development is part of the agency’s broader effort to help fiduciaries fulfill their obligations under ERISA to ensure participants and beneficiaries are located and receive their retirement benefits.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) has issued new guidance in the form of Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2025-02 (FAB 2025-02) and updated model annual funding notices (AFNs) for single-employer and multiemployer pension plans. FAB 2025-02 addresses some conflicts between Section 101(f) of ERISA (as amended by SECURE 2.0)—which requires the plan administrator of a retirement plan to disclose certain information to participants, beneficiaries, and other entities—and previous DOL regulations at 29 CFR § 2520.101-5.