I expect to be litigating, down the road, issues, complications and conundrums created by health care reform. Let’s be honest – its impossible to imagine any large structural undertaking not generating problems, including unforeseen ones, that will have to be resolved by the courts. For now, though, the issue is more one of planning for
Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act
A Parable About the Cable Man
By Stephen Rosenberg on
For reasons too obscure and uninteresting to mention, I have had almost nothing to do with the cable tv industry since, well, it was invented. What’s a DVR, anyway, and why would I want one? But yesterday, I had to obtain digital cable from my local cable company, and called them, braced to be gouged.
Preemption, the Supreme Court, and Job Losses
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I had two disparate items that I wanted to post on, one of which I didn’t really think had anything to do with the subject matters of this blog but that, nonetheless, was too cool a graphic not to pass on. Sitting here this morning, though, I figured out how to hook them together, so…
What Goes Up Just Keeps Going Up – Health Costs and Employer Mandates
By Stephen Rosenberg on
For a long while, I have felt like a lone voice or (to mix my metaphors) at least the skunk at the garden party, when I have criticized employer mandates and, even more so, the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act. As I have frequently discussed in various posts, the problem with these statutes is that…
On Preemption of Pay or Play Acts and the Supreme Court
By Stephen Rosenberg on
File this, I suppose, in the department of inevitable events – lawyers representing the restaurant industry have filed to have the Supreme Court review the Ninth Circuit ruling finding that the San Francisco pay or play ordinance is not preempted by ERISA. This is one of those instances where you can bet how the case…
The Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act as a National Model . . .
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Maybe of what not to do.
I couldn’t let this go by without noting it – he has a Nobel after all and I, well, I have a sixth man award from a high school basketball team. Paul Krugman on health care reform:
Without an effective public option, the Obama health care reform will
…
The Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act: Demonstrating that ERISA Preemption is Health Care Reform’s Best Friend
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Well, I have argued more than once on these electronic pages that ERISA preemption, rather than being the whipping boy of choice for people who advocate state level health insurance mandates, should be understood as a key element in bringing about any type of effective change to the health insurance system. Why is that? Because…
Hmm, Maybe I was Right?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act
I have been accused of being something of a troglodyte for not whole heartedly embracing the Massachusetts Health Care Reform act, including because it puts the cart before the horse in failing to recognize (and address) the fact that rapidly rising health care costs are the real problem driving accessibility and also because the statute…
The Supreme Court, Suffolk Superior Court and Ed Zelinsky, All Commenting on the Breadth of ERISA Preemption
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Two interesting things worth passing along this week on the topic of ERISA preemption, both reinforcing its breadth. The first is this well-written analysis of preemption out of the state trial court in Massachusetts, unusual for the reason that, normally, if ERISA preemption exists, the case ends up by original or removal jurisdiction in federal…
Some Notes on Fair Share Acts and the Economics of Health Insurance
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I have argued many times on these – virtual – pages that fair share acts, and their backers’ obsession with trying to circumvent ERISA preemption, puts the cart before the horse, in that they focus on putting more health insurance obligations on employers without addressing the real reasons that employers struggle to provide health insurance…