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Description
On September 11, 2006, Jerry Schlichter, a personal injury lawyer from Saint Louis, Missouri, filed some of the first lawsuits claiming that excessive fees in 401(k) plans violated ERISA’s fiduciary standards. Since then, hundreds of suits have been filed challenging retirement plan fees, and the Supreme Court has rendered two decisions in cases claiming that excessive 401(k) plan fees violated ERISA’s fiduciary standards. Since the Supreme Court issued the second decision in 2022, retirement plan excessive fee litigation may have begun to slow. There may, however, be a new frontier in plan fee litigation: health care plan fees.
This article explores this potential new frontier in plan fee litigation. It begins by discussing three new disclosure requirements which may make data to challenge health plan fees more accessible and thus challenges more likely. It then addresses five types of behavior that may be targeted in excessive health plan fee litigation and two significant challenges plan participants may face in filing suits. Finally, the article offers some best practices plan sponsors should consider adopting in order to protect against excessive health plan fee litigation.
Publication Date
2024
Book Title
New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
Publisher
LexisNexis Matthew Bender
City
New York
ISBN
9781663393388
Keywords
ERISA, fiduciary, fee
Disciplines
Health Law and Policy | Law | Retirement Security Law
Recommended Citation
Moore, Kathryn L., "The Next Frontier in Plan Fee Litigation: Health Plan Fees" (2024). Law Faculty Books and Chapters. 57.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/lawfac_book/57
