Reigning in ERISA preemption? Any willing provider statutes after New York Blue Cross Plans v. Travelers Insurance Co.

ERISA preemption of state mandated-provider laws.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 19741 ("ERISA" or "the Act") is a comprehensive federal statute which imposes minimum standards on employee benefit plans. To prevent conflicting state regulation, ERISA preempts state laws which "relate to" these plans. 2 ERISA's preemption, however, is not complete. Consistent with the federal policy embodied in the McCarran-Ferguson Act 3 of lea...

Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.: Just Another ERISA Preemption Decision—Or a Bellwether Decision for States and Providers Caught Up In Health Care Reform’s War of Attrition?

S ome Supreme Court rulings decide comparatively isolated legal issues, such as whether religious figures can be placed on the front lawn of a county courthouse without violating the First Amendment. Other Supreme Court rulings decide legal issues which, while certainly important in their own right, have significant and far-reaching legal and/or public policy consequences. Gobeille v. Liberty M...

The critical role of ERISA in state health reform.

Despite prominent roles for employers and state regulation in the Clinton administration's Health Security Act, relatively little attention has been accorded to the impact of federal preemption of state legislation through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). As interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court, ERISA permits state regulation of insured employee health plans but otherwise p...

Travelers Insurance: New Support for the Argument to Restrain ERISA Pre-emption

Implications of ERISA for health benefits and the number of self-funded ERISA plans.

This Issue Brief provides an overview of the issues relating to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and health benefit plans, the major case law relating to ERISA and health plans, and the implications of the preemption of state regulations for health plan sponsors and participants. It also presents the latest data on the number of health plan participants in self-funded...