As usual, I disagree with the Wall Street Journal editorial policy. ERISA is the biggest fraud and sham ever foisted on the American public. Under the guise of protecting employees, this act has been interpreted by the courts so as to strip citizens of their right to judicial review of many, many injustices. We would all be better off if this horrible law was thrown out entirely.
The Wall Street Journal editorializes that the House’s health bill “says that after a five-year grace period all [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] insurance offerings will have to win government approval-both by the Department of Labor and a new ‘health choices commissioner’ who will set federal standards for what is an acceptable health plan.” In addition “to the ‘health choices’ administrative burden, the cost of labor will rise because the House guts another key section of Erisa. Currently, lawsuits about employee benefits are barred under the law, allowing large employers to avoid the state tort lotteries in disputes over coverage. No longer. As a gratuity to the trial bar, Democrats will now subject businesses to these liabilities in the name of health ‘reform.'”
From the American Association for Justice news release.