Retiree Health Plans Can Cap Lifetime Benefits, 9th Cir. Says

Federal law doesn’t bar certain retiree-only health plans from capping participants’ lifetime benefits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held (King v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Ill., 2017 BL 316302, 9th Cir., No. 15-55880, 9/8/17).

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, as amended by the Affordable Care Act, doesn’t ban lifetime benefit maximums for certain employer-sponsored health plans that cover only retirees, the Ninth Circuit said Sept. 8.

The ACA, which applies to many employer-sponsored health plans, largely eliminated the lifetime benefit caps that health plans used to deny coverage for individuals whose ...