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ERISA preemption

| Jan 30, 2017 | Employee Rights

The Employee Retirement Security Act regulates how employees receive their health and other benefits from the employers. It also protects private pension and health plans in case there is any mismanagement. But sometimes employees are deprived of protections in bad faith claims. It is important to understand ERISA preemption laws and how they might affect you.

ERISA is a federal act, and it gets priority over all state laws. You might lose some of your state law rights if ERISA is implemented.  ERISA preempts all state laws because when the act was drafted, Congress added this clause. Thus it preempts all state laws, and the courts have all agreed on it as well. States protect all employees from unlawful behavior of insurance companies, but ERISA preemption might make it difficult for you.

However, ERISA does not apply to workers’ compensation benefits, pensions, disability plans or any other government plans. You might be worried about whether you receive protection from you state in case of bad faith claims. It is important to understand bad faith claims and how ERISA deals with them. ERISA covers seventy-two percent of private health coverage claims in the United States. There are cases in which people are tricked into believing that their insurance claims will only be handled by federal courts, and have nothing to do with state laws.

If you are being denied benefits because of an error, it is important to discuss your situation with an attorney as soon as possible. The attorney will assess your claim and try to file a complaint in court.

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