88.Innovative or Illegal? How to Vet Benefits Vendors

Host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with ERISA attorney Chris Vanderwolk to answer the question every plan sponsor is asking in a cost crisis: how do you tell a legitimate cost containment solution from a scheme dressed up to look like one?

Chris is Director of Compliance and Innovation and he spent two decades in employee benefits before he ever went to law school. He walks through the vendor pitches landing in CFO inboxes every week, explains where each one breaks, and gives employers a test they can run themselves.

We get specific on FICA double-dip and SIMRP programs, fixed indemnity and wellness plans, and charity care arrangements. Chris explains why an NDA on a compliance memo is a red flag, how ERISA 408 fee reasonableness works when you price the services yourself, and which regulators are in play when a program goes wrong.

What you'll learn

How to run vendor due diligence, and why the responsibility never transfers to your broker or TPA

Why nobody has a proprietary interpretation of the tax code

The FICA double-dip pitch, and the missing element that makes it fail

How to apply ERISA 408 fee reasonableness: price the bundle yourself, then compare it to the invoice

Which regulators you implicate beyond the IRS: ERISA, HIPAA, the ADA, and the Public Health Service Act

Where wellness programs cross into tax scheme, and why a guaranteed ROI is a reason to ask questions

The only two legal ways to fund individual coverage, and the COBRA rights employees give up

The compensation question to ask your advisor, and what their reaction tells you