State Regulation of Managed Care and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-26-1996
ISSN
0028-4793
Publisher
Massachusetts Medical Society
Language
en-US
Abstract
The federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)1 is the federal law that governs employee-benefit plans offered by private employers and unions. ERISA has long hindered state efforts to expand access to health care, because it prohibits states from requiring all employers to offer benefits to their employees.2 States have shifted their attention from seeking universal insurance coverage for health care to regulating the benefits of people who already have health insurance. Reports describing how some managed-care organizations limit the care provided to their enrollees have prompted a rash of legislative efforts intended to protect patients from receiving substandard care.3 Yet here too, ERISA has prevented state laws regulating managed care from being uniformly enforced.4
Recommended Citation
Wendy K. Mariner,
State Regulation of Managed Care and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
,
in
335
New England Journal of Medicine
1986
(1996).
Available at:
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199612263352610
