AIDS and ERISA Preemption: The Double Threat

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...

Will the Supreme Court finally eliminate ERISA preemption?

David Trueman's article reviews the history of ERISA preemption by analyzing seminal Supreme Court cases and predicts the future of ERISA preemption in his analysis of recent federal case law. Traditionally, the ability to hold a managed care entity responsible for its actions has been hampered by a strict interpretation of the preemption clauses of ERISA but as the Supreme Court's jurisprudenc...

The role of ERISA preemption in health reform: opportunities and limits.

Legal Solutions in Health Reform is a project funded by The RobeRT Wood Johnson FoundaTion Prepared for The o'neill insTiTuTe FoR naTional and Global healTh laW aT GeoRGeToWn univeRsiTy 600 new Jersey avenue, nW Washington, dC 20001 is the premier center for health law, scholarship and policy. Housed at Georgetown University Law Center, in the heart of the nation's capital, the Institute has th...

Comments on “The Assault on Managed Care: Vicarious Liability, ERISA Preemption, and Class Actions”

Managed care organizations (MCOs), as insurance entities, should be liable under contract for inappropriate denial of coverage, whereas treatment errors should be conventional malpractice claims against physicians. Most MCOs are loose networks of independent practices that lack the requisite information or technology to improve care. Holding such MCOs vicariously liable for their physicians’ ne...

Pegram v. Herdrich: a victory for HMOs or the beginning of the end for ERISA preemption?