The Swinging Pendulum: The Supreme Court Reverses Course on ERISA and Managed Care

The authors analyze how the Supreme Court reversed its prior expansive interpretation of ERISA preemption of state-law claims against managed care organizations, marking a significant shift in the legal landscape governing patients’ ability to sue health plans for denials of care. This jurisprudential reversal has important implications for the balance between federal uniformity in employee benefit plan regulation and state-level protections for patients in managed care settings.