The recently filed class action lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and Wells Fargo have sent shockwaves across the health plan industry. But for those in the retirement plan industry, it feels like déjà vu.

Employees from both organizations claimed that the company mismanaged the cost of their health care plans and forced thousands of U.S. employees to overpay for prescription drugs. These class action lawsuits may be among the first in the health care plan arena, but with decades of experience in the retirement plan space, I've witnessed numerous fiduciary breach cases tied to retirement plan mismanagement. The parallels between these retirement plan lawsuits and the current issues facing employer-sponsored health care plans are striking.

While the first few retirement plan lawsuits weren't successful, plaintiff attorneys quickly realized that the best approach to successful litigation was to focus on the excessive fees charged in 401(k) plans as a fiduciary breach. By 2020, the value of class action settlements reached over $6.2 billion, according to sources. A similar strategy is now playing out with health care plan benefits.