The next “401(k) fee crisis” will not be about retirement plans. It is happening in healthcare. Courts are applying the fiduciary standards from 401(k) fee litigation to self-funded health plans, where hidden costs are buried in ASO, PBM, and Stop-Loss contracts. Learn where these fees hide and how to protect your plan.

Courts have made it clear that fiduciaries cannot outsource their responsibility. If your TPA mismanages claims, hides fees, or engages in conflicted practices, liability ultimately rests with you. That's why sponsors must hold TPAs accountable and document oversight.

Cross-plan offsetting costs self-funded plans millions in hidden fees. Learn how bulk recovery practices create fiduciary risks and what sponsors can do.

For many plan sponsors, the word “audit” suggests penalties or after-the-fact corrections. In reality, independent claims reviews are about prevention, transparency, and protecting plan assets. Not punishment.

Benefits committees are becoming essential to ERISA compliance for self-funded health plans. Learn why structured oversight of vendors, fees, claims accuracy, and data transparency is a fiduciary imperative, and how benefits committees strengthen governance, reduce risk, and protect plan participants.

Major networks are finally shifting on data sharing. The excuses are gone. It is the employer’s fiduciary responsibility to demand access. If a carrier or vendor refuses, and the pattern continues, you must replace them because their obstruction causes you to breach your fiduciary obligations.

When claim administrators audit their own networks, conflicts arise. Independent payment integrity ensures ERISA and CAA compliance, protecting plan sponsors, members, and fiduciary accountability.

Fiduciaries need the people, process, and technology to ensure plan oversight. After nearly a decade of litigation, Aetna Life Insurance Company and OptumHealth Care Solutions have agreed to pay $8.4 million to settle allegations that they concealed administrative fees inside claims using so-called “dummy codes.” 🚩 Allegations Plaintiff Sandra Peters argued that Aetna and Optum: Directed providers to submit claims with “Administrative Add-On Services.” Masked Optum’s adminis

Without transparency and access to THEIR data, plan sponsors risk breaching fiduciary duty under ERISA and the CAA. The 2025 Pulse of the Purchaser Survey confirms what many of us already know: affordability threats are not easing. For the fifth straight year, employers rank drug prices, hospital costs, and high-cost claims as the top drivers of unsustainable healthcare spending For self-funded plans, these challenges bring heightened fiduciary obligations. According to the