Data Health Plans ‘Masquerade’ as Employer Benefits: States (1)

The outcome of an ongoing appellate battle over data-for-insurance schemes could threaten a careful balance between state and federal health insurance regulation, several states say in a brief filed in that case.

The U.S. Department of Labor is appealing a 2020 district court decision that vindicated the low-cost health coverage two Georgia-based companies offer participants in exchange for monitoring their internet usage.

Government attorneys called that proposition “a sham” in the DOL’s opening brief March 31, and state insurance departments and trade groups said the plans could serve to undermine the Affordable Care Act by “cherry-picking” healthy participants out of ...