The Daily Brief for Benefits Professionals
BenefitsWire
Health & Welfare Plans
June 15, 2026
— § —
18 items · ~5 min read
In this issue
Expert Analysis (11) · Regulatory Action and Guidance (3) · ERISA Litigation (4)
Expert Analysis
11 items“Nearly eight in 10 companies say that weight-loss drugs are driving increases in their medical expenses, research by the Business Group on Health found. Of employers that now cover GLP-1s for weight management, only 72% expect to continue doing so in 2027, while 10% expect to drop coverage.” MORE >>
Source: Employee Benefit News
“Group health insurance has been the only model in the employer-provided benefits space for 80 years. There are habits that come with that, so ingrained that you don't even realize they won't apply in ICHRA.” MORE >>
Source: Employee Benefit News
“Under the new rule, the postmark date reflects when a mail piece is first processed — not when it was dropped off at the post office or handed to a mail carrier. The postmark date raises compliance concerns for plan sponsors and recordkeepers responsible for timely providing benefits and tax notices to plan participants and beneficiaries.” MORE >>
Source: Troutman Pepper Locke
“As of the effective date, covered employers must disclose the hourly or salary compensation range, as well as a description of benefits and compensation in job postings every time they announce a job opportunity. This requirement applies to both external and internal job postings.” MORE >>
Source: Foley & Lardner
“The WHD confirmed that an employee may hold both an exempt position and a nonexempt position with the same employer without losing the exemption for the primary role, provided that the salary basis is maintained ... However, when calculating overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, the employer must include all remuneration—both the salary and the hourly wages—in the regular rate calculation.” MORE >>
Source: Pierson Ferdinand
“Even where federal enforcement has softened, states are often stepping in and pushing litigation forward,” Norton Rose Fulbright’s U.S. head of litigation and disputes said.” MORE >>
Source: HR Dive
“Press Coverage June 15, 2026 Ashley L. Taylor, Jr. Ashley L. Taylor, Jr., a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement Practice Group, was interviewed in the June 15, 2026, AdExchanger article, “Virginia Is Not For Precise Geolocation Data Lovers.” MORE >>
Source: Troutman Pepper Locke
“Each week while Congress is in session, our Policy team delivers a key update to highlight a topical benefits, health, or retirement news item from the Hill, such as a newly introduced bill, a summary of a committee hearing, or another hot-button matter.” MORE >>
Source: Groom Law Group
“In 2022, Foley’s Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Team first produced a set of interactive international compliance and risk-mitigation heat maps designed to provide an at-a-glance resource for identifying countries around the world that pose potential issues for multinational companies that conduct business in, trade with, or source materials from them.” MORE >>
Source: Foley & Lardner
“Podcast The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) doesn’t operate like a typical HR policy or leave law – and treating it that way can create risk.” MORE >>
Source: Littler
“The proposed rule allows employers to offer fertility benefits as a standalone option that qualifies as a new category of limited excepted benefit, similar in concept to standalone dental and vision coverage. This designation is significant because excepted benefits are generally exempt from many federal market reforms that apply to group health plans, including certain requirements under the Affordable Care Act and HIPAA. As a result, employers could design fertility benefit programs with greater flexibility, potentially reducing administrative burdens and expanding employee access.” MORE >>
Source: Jackson Lewis (Benefits Law Advisor)
Regulatory Action and Guidance
3 items“This site displays a prototype of a “Web 2.0” version of the daily Federal Register. It is not an official legal edition of the Federal Register, and does not replace the official print version or the official electronic version on GPO’s govinfo.” MORE >>
Source: Federal Register
“Compliance News | June 5, 2026 The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) along with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a final rule regarding the independent dispute resolution (IDR) operations under the No Surprises Act.” MORE >>
Source: Segal
“The OBBBA significantly expanded Section 4960's definition of "covered employee" to potentially cover all of an ATEO's employees – not just the top five highest-compensated. Until the proposed regulations are issued, the Notice provides interim guidance on the expansion of Section 4960's definition of "covered employee" under the OBBBA.” MORE >>
Source: Groom Law Group
ERISA Litigation
4 items“The agency cannot utilize its general rulemaking authority to override explicit statutory provisions," the judge wrote in his Friday opinion. Along with vacating the $5 automatic re-enrollment penalty and the "failure to reconcile" policy, Hurson vacated the elimination of guaranteed coverage for people who are overdue to pay their premiums; the imposition of higher income verification standards if exchanges find inconsistencies in tax data; a policy requiring stricter eligibility checks ahead of a special enrollment period; and changes to a formula used to sort ACA plans into different coverage tiers.” MORE >>
Source: Healthcare Dive
“ERISA requires that a denial notice state the specific reasons for the denial and reference the specific plan provisions on which the determination is based. In each denial letter, Cigna informed Plaintiff that it was denying coverage because there were "not enough studies" showing that two-level ADR is effective or improves health outcomes, citing only its internal Medical Coverage Policy No. 0104 ("MCP"), a non-plan document that categorically excludes two-level ADR as experimental. Cigna never relied on the Summary Plan Description ("SPD"), the undisputedly governing plan document, which defines "experimental, investigational or unproven" services but does not categorically exclude two-le” MORE >>
Source: Roberts Disability Law
“The court concluded it was. Reading the eligibility waiting period to require continuous active employment for its entire duration was not unreasonable, the court reasoned, because the waiting period appeared to encompass more days than just the 30 days of continuous active employment needed to reach the Eligible Date. The court was candid that the policy did not expressly require this reading and that the interpretation "may be low on the reasonableness scale.” MORE >>
Source: Roberts Disability Law
“Because the Plan stated that Sun Life "has discretionary authority to make all final determinations regarding claims for benefits," including the right to determine eligibility and construe the policy's terms, the court found this language unambiguously conferred discretion. Applying Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch, the court reviewed the denial for abuse of discretion, a standard it described as "generous" and one under which a decision must be upheld if there is "any reasonable basis for it.” MORE >>
Source: Roberts Disability Law
Also of Note
- Oregon Expands Protections for Immigration Status in the Workplace — “The law creates a clear prohibition on employers' taking adverse action against employees who update—or attempt to update—their "personal information" following a lawful change in work authorization status, effectively recognizing such updates as a protected activity.” (Littler)
- Groom’s Excellence Recognized in the Legal 500 – US Nationwide 2026 Guide — “In the Legal 500 – US Nationwide 2026 Guide, Groom is again recognized for its national leadership in benefits, executive compensation, retirement, healthcare, and ERISA litigation.” (Groom Law Group)
- Government Owned Inventions Available for License: 4-Amino-2-(Piperidin-3-yl)Isoindoline-1,3-Diones as Anti-Inflammatory Agents for Systemic Degenerative and Neurodegenerative Disorders — “This site displays a prototype of a “Web 2.0” version of the daily Federal Register.” (Federal Register)
- Virginia Expands Paid Sick Leave Program to Cover Most Employees — “Employers must permit eligible employees to accrue at least one hour of PSL per 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year.” (Groom Law Group)
- ACA Dollar Amounts and Percentages | Segal — “Compliance News | June 3, 2026 Many ACA provisions contain numbers or percentages that are indexed to various measures of inflation, and the federal government announces new numbers throughout the year.” (Segal)
- Medical Stop-Loss Premiums Increase Nearly 13% | Segal — “Reports and Surveys | June 8, 2026 By Michael S. Tesoriero Rate of increase in medical stop-loss premiums has accelerated.” (Segal)
- Employer Groups Seek Class Certification Reversal in Tobacco-Use Surcharge Case — “The district court granted certification of the class challenging ERISA tobacco surcharges, but the industry groups' brief argues the court did so without meaningfully analyzing key individualized defenses, including whether plaintiffs had qualifying medical conditions or timely claims.” (PLANADVISER)
- Mercer survey: Employers eye cost-shifting strategies as health benefit spend rises — “As medical costs continue to rise, employers are weighing a return to policies that shift additional expense to workers, according to a new survey.” (FierceHealthcare)
- Healthcare costs poised to jump 9% in 2027 as health plans blame AI adoption, drug prices — “Health plans are projecting the highest medical cost trend in nearly two decades in 2027, with commercial health costs expected to rise 9%, according to a new analysis from PwC.” (FierceHealthcare)
- Eighth Circuit Upholds AD&D Denial, Holding Home Dialysis Treatment Contributed to Insured’s Death Within the Plan’s Illness-Treatment Exclusion — “MetLife initially declined the claim on the ground that the death resulted from natural causes rather than an accident, but after Plaintiff submitted an administrative appeal exceeding 1,000 pages, including a letter from the decedent's physician, MetLife conceded the death was accidental.” (Roberts Disability Law)
- Cherry-Picking Exec Pleads Guilty to Obstruction — “Leech, who pleaded guilty to an obstruction charge, could now face up to one year in prison, avoiding the more than 20 years he faced under the charges that would have been argued at his trial, which was scheduled to start on June 15.” (PLANADVISER)
- UnitedHealth, FTC reach proposed settlement in insulin case — “The tentative deal comes months after CVS Health reached a proposed settlement in the lawsuit alleging major pharmacy benefit managers are inflating insulin costs.” (Healthcare Dive)