CMS has paused registration for federal Marketplace agents and brokers who don't have a 2026 Exchange agreement. The pause took effect September 22 and is scheduled to run until February 1, 2027. Brokers who already hold 2026 agreements aren't affected. CMS cites more than 624,000 complaints about unauthorized enrollments or plan switching from 2023 through 2025. In a separate action, the agency canceled about 315,000 policies covering more than 760,000 people on August 31. Newly registered brokers accounted for about 11 percent of brokers with active enrollments but received about 30 percent of the 569 termination notices issued in July and August. HHS skipped advance notice and comment, saying advance warning could prompt a rush to register. Comments on the interim final rule are due November 21.

The United States fell three places to 24th in Natixis Investment Managers' 2026 Global Retirement Index. Its ranking for retirement finances dropped eight places to 18th. It ranked 25th for health despite having the highest per-person health spending among the countries measured. Norway and Ireland ranked highest overall. In a separate measure of investor sentiment, 81 percent of U.S. investors surveyed said funding retirement is their responsibility, up from 63 percent a decade ago. And 76 percent expected public debt to lead to reduced benefits.

The Retire Through Ownership Act has passed Congress and awaits the President's signature. It would give employee stock ownership plan fiduciaries a safe harbor for relying in good faith on independent appraisals that follow Revenue Ruling 59-60. Groom explains that those principles recognize a range of fair market values rather than a single exact figure, and that trustees needn't be valuation experts to rely on qualified appraisers. The safe harbor would apply to determinations made after enactment. Groom expects several years to pass before courts hear lawsuits over transactions covered by it.

About 76 million workers lack access to an employer retirement plan, according to the Economic Innovation Group. That's nearly 52 percent of working Americans ages 18 to 64. Among private-sector part-time workers, the share rises to 77 percent. Only 37 percent of all workers receive an employer retirement contribution. Among those who do, the median annual contribution is $3,000.

CFA Institute's modeling found that private equity and venture capital offered the strongest potential to grow retirement balances. Private debt, infrastructure, and real estate produced lower average returns and played a more defensive role. Changing how a target-date fund adjusts its investments during the final decade before retirement affected outcomes more than the private-market allocation itself. The findings suggest that choosing how these investments fit into a fund matters more than simply making them available.

Yes, a 457(b) plan can allow a small-account payout while an employee is still working. Groom and CAPTRUST's experts explain the conditions: the account, not counting rolled-in money, is $7,000 or less; the participant hasn't contributed for two years; and the participant hasn't taken a payout like this before. The plan can allow the participant to request the payout or make it without the participant's consent. Offering the feature is optional.

Quarles recommends preparing for California's five health-care AI bills together, with an inventory of AI tools and procedures for human oversight, disclosure, and consent. The measures address clinical decisions, bias in decision-support tools, protection for clinicians who override AI, psychotherapy, and access to human customer-service agents. The chatbot bill, AB 1609, still awaits the Governor's signature. Quarles urges organizations to prepare for potential January 1, 2027 requirements. Health plans and pharmacy benefit managers serving California members should review their chatbots and vendor contracts.

New federal Medicaid and CHIP eligibility restrictions for lawfully present immigrants take effect October 1. The eligible immigration categories narrow to green-card holders, Cuban and Haitian entrants, people living in the U.S. under Compacts of Free Association, and lawfully residing children and pregnant people in states that cover them. Refugees and asylees without green cards are among those losing eligibility. KFF warns that confusing notices and paperwork requirements could also cause people who remain eligible to lose coverage. Employers may receive enrollment questions from workers whose families lose public coverage.

Health plans still need a written comparison of how they apply certain restrictions to mental health care and to medical care, even though the 2024 parity regulations aren't being enforced. Holland & Hart explains that the requirement comes from the statute. The firm also warns that failing to provide a required document after a participant's request can expose a plan administrator to penalties of up to $110 a day. The 2024 regulatory preamble suggests that the comparative analysis is among the documents participants can request. DOL's enforcement priorities include exclusions of mental health services, stricter medical-necessity standards than those used for medical care, and inadequate provider networks.

Comments closed September 21 on DOL's proposed electronic-disclosure option for group health plans. Under the proposal, plans could email a notice that documents are available online, but couldn't use that option to email the documents themselves because they may contain sensitive health information. Participants could request unlimited free paper copies. A single summary plan description covering medical, life, and disability benefits presents a complication. The new option would cover the medical benefits, while life and disability benefits would remain subject to the existing delivery rules, which allow workplace computer access or the recipient's agreement to electronic delivery. DOL requested comments on how to address the gap.

An employee who has used all available leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act may still need an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Bricker's Daniel Burke and Briana Blair urge employers to recognize accommodation requests even when employees don't use legal terms. Employers should continue discussing possible accommodations after FMLA leave runs out, focus on how the condition affects the employee's work, and consider options such as modified schedules or temporary remote work.

A Florida federal court rejected a Mattress Firm manager's FMLA claims over Saturdays off to take her teenage son to DJ classes. According to HR Dive's account of the September 15 decision, she described the classes as therapeutic, but no provider had prescribed them. Her son had previously undergone a brief evaluation under Florida's Baker Act. He was no longer receiving continuing treatment and had stopped seeing his therapist around the time the classes began. On this record, calling the classes therapeutic wasn't enough to establish an FMLA entitlement.

AI can help employers process leave requests more efficiently and consistently, writes Gallagher's Alec Herring in Employee Benefit News. But using the technology doesn't reduce an employer's responsibilities under the ADA or FMLA. Employers remain accountable for their leave decisions even when software handles much of the work.

Charter Communications' 401(k) plan required forfeitures to pay plan expenses before reducing company contributions. Participants allege the company did the reverse. In O'Donnell v. Charter Communications, a Missouri federal court allowed fiduciary-breach claims to proceed based on that plan language in a September 14 ruling. The court dismissed other claims because the money remained in the plan and paid benefits, even if Charter may have used it in the wrong order.

A federal judge upheld Unum's termination of a corporate lawyer's disability benefits after reviewing the claim independently rather than giving the insurer's decision extra weight. In Syed v. Unum, the claimant still had to prove that she couldn't perform her job under the policy's terms. Her records showed that her condition had stabilized, and later diagnoses of POTS and chronic fatigue didn't establish the necessary work limitations. Roberts Disability Law explains that a diagnosis alone doesn't prove entitlement to disability benefits.

Business and benefits groups have urged the Fourth Circuit to reject a challenge to Northrop Grumman's use of 401(k) forfeitures. Participants say the money should have reduced their administrative expenses rather than the company's contributions. The groups argue that ERISA doesn't require fiduciaries to provide benefits beyond those promised by the plan. Hall Benefits Law summarizes the competing positions in appeal No. 26-1258.

The Senate voted 50 to 49 to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, short of the 60 votes needed. Retirement industry groups had hoped to attach legislation allowing 403(b) plans to offer collective investment trusts. PLANSPONSOR reports that the failed vote and the limited time left before the midterms make passage through that bill look unlikely this Congress.

Patients have sued Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, alleging that the companies failed to warn about a rare optic-nerve condition that can cause sudden, sometimes permanent vision loss. The consolidated proceeding in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania had more than 130 cases as of this summer. The companies deny the allegations and dispute causation. Separately, Europe's medicines regulator classified the condition, NAION, as a very rare side effect of semaglutide in 2025. It estimated about one additional case per 10,000 people treated for a year.

Employees who overestimate their benefits knowledge can cause serious plan errors, writes Ary Rosenbaum. They may override payroll procedures, decide who's eligible, or interpret plan provisions without consulting the administrator or counsel. He recommends clear responsibilities, documented decisions, and a process for getting qualified advice before acting.

A November reconciliation bill could offer another opening for retirement legislation. Senate Majority Leader Thune has said reconciliation may be the only option without Democratic cooperation on 2027 appropriations. Budget Committee Chairman Johnson has proposed a resolution authorizing up to $150 billion across eleven committees. Miller & Chevalier identifies retirement savings measures among the possible additions, though the midterm results could change the plans.

CMS plans to add five programs for additional health conditions to its technology-enabled chronic-care payment model in spring 2027. The expansion, announced September 15, covers heart failure, COPD, substance use disorders, tobacco cessation, and longer-term care for muscle and joint conditions. The model already has 160 participating organizations. Foley Hoag reports that insurers covering 165 million people across Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and private insurance have pledged to adopt similar payments tied to patient outcomes. If those commitments become contracts, the approach could extend to employer-sponsored coverage.