Someone once said that Marx was wrong about a lot of things, but he was right that everything is economics. Nothing illustrates this maxim more than the various attempts by states to get around ERISA preemption – such as discussed here and here – and mandate health insurance coverage in one manner or another. These
Preemption
More on Preemption and Health Care Reform in California
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I posted a couple of days back about California’s interest in enacting a state health care reform law that, like the current law in Massachusetts and the Maryland Fair Share Act that was struck down by the courts, operates at least in part by imposing new obligations on employers who provide health insurance to their…
California, Health Insurance and ERISA Preemption
By Stephen Rosenberg on
There’s an entertaining little story today in the Boston Globe on the question of whether, in the next few weeks, the California legislature and the Governor will roll out a state plan to reform health insurance by adding fees and other obligations to the employer provided health care system with the intent of providing universal…
Go West for Health Care Young Man? Preemption and Employer Provided Health Care in San Francisco
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Preemption
Here’s an article on Law.com today, out of the Recorder, on whether San Francisco’s version of a pay or play law mandating certain health care payments by businesses in the interest of bringing about the holy grail of universal health care coverage can survive ERISA preemption. The article points out, similar to what I discussed…
Another Local Health Care Initiative Preempted, and What It Foretells for the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act, Preemption
Roy Harmon over at his excellent Health Plan Law blog has the story of the decision last week by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Retail Industry Leaders Association v. Suffolk County, in which the court ruled that the Suffolk County Fair Share for Health Care Act (basically…
More Thoughts on Whether the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act is Preempted
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Wow, don’t think Massachusetts’ health care reform law doesn’t dictate to employers what type of health insurance to provide, only in a more subtle way than the state of Maryland did with its Fair Share Act based – but unsuccessful, thanks to ERISA preemption- attempted bludgeoning of Wal-Mart? At the risk of picking a fight,…
Partners, Domestic and Otherwise, and ERISA Preemption
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Preemption
Here’s the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article on Partners Healthcare System v. Sullivan, the case I posted on a couple weeks back involving the question of whether preemption prevented the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination from taking action against Partners over its decision to allow benefits to be granted to its employees’ same sex, but not…
ERISA and Same Sex Marriage
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Here’s a great story out of Boston, by means of the Workplace Prof, that touches on several obsessions of this blog – ERISA, the federal arbitration act, and court review of arbitration awards. As the Prof explains in this post here, a federal judge for the District of Massachusetts is seeking amicus briefs related…
Can Partners Healthcare Systems Provide Different Benefits to Different Kinds of Partners?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans, Preemption
Judge Tauro of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an interesting opinion this week as to the power, if any, of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to continue to investigate whether an employer, in this instance Partners Healthcare Systems – which operates major teaching hospitals, among other operations – violates…
The Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act and the Purposes of Preemption
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I have been meaning to come back to some issues concerning the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act, the state’s potentially groundbreaking attempt to combine individual, employer and government roles to provide health insurance coverage for most of the Commonwealth’s uninsured, and now seems like a good time to do so, with its effective date coming…