Data Miner Wins Court Approval of Health Plans Covering 50,000

Two data mining partnerships that offer health coverage to about 50,000 people who’ve agreed to have their data tracked won a court order forcing the Labor Department to recognize their health plans as ERISA-covered plans, after a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas ruled that the plan participants qualify as “working owners.”

The department’s advisory opinion that the health plans proposed by Data Marketing Partnership LP and LP Management Services LLC aren’t governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act and contrary to ERISA, Judge Reed O’Connor of the ...