Supreme Court Rules ERISA Preempts State Claims Reporting

The ERISA Industry Committee had filed an amicus brief inAlfred Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

For Immediate Release

Washington, DC – The following statement on Alfred Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company should be attributed to Annette Guarisco Fildes, president and CEO, The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC):

“We are pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preempts Vermont’s law to require the reporting of health claims paid by self-funded benefit plans. ERIC had argued the same point in an amicus brief filed in October 2015.

ERIC members, some of the largest employers in the nation, have operations and employees in every state. ERISA enables our members to provide benefits to employees and their families across the country following a single federal law rather than myriad state and local laws which are often inconsistent or in conflict. If the Court had not found Vermont’s law to have been preempted, it could have led to a surge in laws sponsored by countless municipalities, as well as states, that would have eroded the foundation of ERISA and, ultimately, jeopardized employers’ ability to offer these valuable benefits.

ERIC will continue to fight against local and state barriers to providing health and retirement benefits such as through our telehealth initiative and our state paid leave law project.”

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All media inquiries to The ERISA Industry Committee should be directed to media@eric.org.

About The ERISA Industry Committee
ERIC is a national advocacy organization that exclusively represents large employers that provide health, retirement, paid leave, and other benefits to their nationwide workforces. With member companies that are leaders in every sector of the economy, ERIC advocates on the federal, state, and local levels for policies that promote flexibility and uniformity in the administration of their employee benefit plans.