Hawaii Law Limiting Insurer Rights Survives 9th Cir. ERISA Test

A Hawaii law limiting how health insurers can recoup benefits they paid to insured patients is enforceable in federal court and doesn’t interfere with federal benefits law, the Ninth Circuit ruled Sept. 11.

With this ruling, the court joined the Third, Fourth, and Fifth circuits in holding that a challenge to a health plan’s right to reimbursement under a state insurance law is properly characterized as a claim for plan benefits that belongs in federal court under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The Department of Labor agrees with this position, while the U.S. Court of Appeals for ...