Overview

While the outlook for Republicans’ drive to pass their legislative priorities through Congress remains uncertain, several important benefits policies could come into play, including the tax treatment of employer-sponsored health and retirement plans. Lawmakers are also expected to consider bipartisan proposals including lowering healthcare costs, making technical corrections to SECURE 2.0’s retirement changes, and expanding investment choices for 403(b) plans.

On the healthcare side, the Trump administration’s policy initiatives are taking shape. The White House has issued several executive orders (EOs) related to healthcare, including transparency, in vitro fertilization, and the new Make America Healthy Again Commission. Agencies will need to respond to the EOs as early as May in some cases. Before leaving office, the Biden administration issued guidance on paid leave, rolled back two sets of proposed Affordable Care Act (ACA) preventive services regulations, and released important FAQs, reports, and instructions for prescription drug data collection (RxDC). Finally, Congress passed ACA reporting and employer shared-responsibility enforcement relief at the end of last year.

On the retirement side, IRS has made significant progress issuing much-needed guidance on various elements of SECURE 2.0, including recently proposed regulations on changes to the catch-up contribution rules and the auto-enrollment mandate for new 401(k) and 403(b) plans. DOL also recently updated its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program to offer new self-correction options for certain fiduciary breaches.

Experts from Mercer’s Law & Policy Group will discuss these and other issues during this live 90-minute webinar.

Speakers