The Internal Revenue Service recently announced cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for health savings accounts, high-deductible health plans, and excepted benefit health reimbursement arrangements for 2026. All of the dollar limits currently in effect for 2025 will change for 2026, with the exception of one limit.
DOJ Secures Its First-Ever Conviction in a Criminal Antitrust Labor Market Trial
On April 14, 2025, a federal jury convicted a home health agency executive in a wage-fixing conspiracy under the Sherman Act, marking the US Department of Justice’s first-ever criminal antitrust labor market trial conviction. This conviction marks a significant milestone in antitrust enforcement, highlighting the government’s commitment to addressing labor market wage-fixing and no-poach agreements, and underscores the need for companies to ensure compliance with antitrust laws to avoid legal risks.
The Employee Retention Credit: IRS’s “Risking” Model Faces Legal Challenge
In April 2025, the US District Court for the District of Arizona rejected a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by two tax preparation companies. These firms aimed to stop the Internal Revenue Service from using an automated “risk assessment model” to evaluate and reject Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims, seeking to reinstate individualized reviews of ERC claims.
PBMs Score a Win in Federal Court Against State Regulation
A recent federal court decision in McKee Foods Corp. v. BFP Inc. declared that Tennessee’s “any willing pharmacy” requirement was preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. This decision impacts self-funded group health plans, potentially allowing them to comply with a single set of rules nationwide rather than navigating conflicting state laws.
Trending in Telehealth: March 2025
In recent telehealth news, the governor of Mississippi has signed SB 2415 into law, which mandates that health insurance plans cover telemedicine services to the same extent as in-person consultations. The bill also requires that all health insurance and employee benefit plans in Mississippi reimburse out-of-network providers for telemedicine services under the same reimbursement policies applicable to other out-of-network providers.
Read more about other telemedicine-related legislative and regulatory developments in our monthly Trending in Telehealth report.
