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On March 1, 2016, the US Supreme Court held that a Vermont law requiring detailed reporting of health data could not be applied to self-funded plans subject to ERISA. In [...]

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), (1) enacted in 1974, 'is a comprehensive statute designed to promote the interests of employees and their beneficiaries in employee benefit plans.' (2) [...]

Is it a non sequitur, an oxymoron, a practical joke, or a communist plot? Can government--state government no less--develop and offer a low-cost retirement program for the 67 million private sector employees lacking access to a company retirement plan? Absolutely--unless the feds get in the way. Almost half of the states are currently developing retirement programs for the uncovered workers within their borders. What the programs have in common is that they are being designed as no-cost to employers and taxpayers, low-cost to participants, voluntary for employees, and simple. But each state will likely take a different approach, and these differences will function as a competitive laboratory for finding the most effective alternatives. What follows is a white paper I wrote for the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Retirement Initiatives on how federal laws apply to the plan design options being considered in the various state capitals. I gratefully thank and acknowledge the contributions and wisdom of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the founder of the Center, and Angela Antonelli, its executive director, in researching and writing this paper., INTRODUCTION Americans are facing a retirement crisis. What used to be a three-legged stool for retirement--Social Security, company retirement benefits, and personal savings--has become unstable for too many because most [...]

Sensibly and predictably, the US Supreme Court ruled that a self-insured ERISA health plan cannot be compelled by a state to provide claims data. In Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Ins. [...]