Effective for plan years beginning after Dec. 30, 2025, group health plans and health insurance issuers must expand their first-dollar coverage for preventive care for women to include additional breast cancer imaging or testing that may be required to complete the initial mammography screening process. In addition, health plans and issuers must cover patient navigation services for breast and cervical cancer screening without cost sharing.

On May 12, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) that aims to bring the prices Americans pay for prescription drugs in line with those paid by similar nations. According to a White House fact sheet, the prices Americans pay for brand-name drugs are more than three times the price other nations pay.

In April, President Trump signed another EO aimed at lowering prescription drug prices, which included a variety of directives related to the Medicare program and the pharmaceutical industry. The directives may not have an immediate impact on drug costs, as they will take time to implement.

In April 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requested approval from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection Instruction Booklet (EEO-1 Instruction Booklet). If the OMB approves the EEO-1 Instruction Booklet, the EEO-1 portal is scheduled to open on May 20, 2025, and the deadline to file 2024 EEO-1 Reports will be June 24, 2025. The final opening and deadline dates will be published on the EEO-1 portal.

On May 1, 2025, the IRS released the inflation-adjusted limit for excepted benefit health reimbursement arrangements (EBHRAs) for plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2026. Effective for 2026 plan years, the maximum annual employer contribution for an EBHRA will increase to $2,200 (up from $2,150 for plan years beginning in 2025).

Group health plans and health insurance issuers must annually submit detailed information on prescription drug and health care spending to the federal government. This reporting is referred to as the prescription drug data collection (or RxDC report). This is an annual reporting requirement-plans and issuers must submit these reports by June 1 of each year, covering information for the prior calendar year.

On May 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-1 on how to determine employee or independent contractor status when enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a group of employees may challenge their employer’s fee arrangement with a retirement plan service provider under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In its unanimous decision, the Supreme Court took an employee-friendly view of statutory text and simplified the requirements for alleging a violation of ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules.

On April 7, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Final Part D Redesign Program Instructions for calendar year 2026. The instructions contain a detailed description of, and guidance related to, changes to the Medicare Part D benefit made by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) that are newly in place for calendar year 2026. Among other things, these changes impact the creditable coverage status of employer-sponsored prescription drug coverage.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), through its Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), has released a new model Employer CHIP Notice with information current as of March 17, 2025.

On April 2, 2025, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form 1-9) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Privacy Notice in the form’s instructions to align with statutory language. The revised Form 1-9 is dated “01/20/25” and has an expiration date of “05/31/2027.” Notably, multiple previous editions of Form 1-9 remain valid until their respective expiration dates. https://content.zywave.com/file/0014a57d-51ea-483e-83de-c63014df65df/USCIS%20Updates%20Form%20I-9%20and%20E-Verify.docx