Health plan fiduciary committees after FAB 2026-01

Your 401(k) committee met last quarter.
Your health plan might not even have a committee.

EBSA said something last week worth noting. In Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-01, the agency stated in writing that ERISA is a law of process and not results, and that investigators should avoid second-guessing process-based fiduciary judgments.

That’s a meaningful line. Not because it changes the law. It doesn’t. But because it tells you where the agency is aiming.
If you did the work, EBSA is signaling it won’t relitigate your judgment. That’s protection earned by process, not by outcome.
Which is also the hard part. You have to do the work.

The sponsors who will sleep well if the DOL comes knocking aren’t necessarily the ones with the best outcomes. They’re the ones who can show how they got there. Who was in the room. What questions got asked. What they considered. What they decided not to do.

Process is unglamorous. It’s minutes and memos and a standing agenda. It’s boring on purpose.

For twenty years, retirement committees have been doing it.

Health plans are where that habit goes next.