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San Francisco Business League Seeks U.S. Supreme Court Review of San Francisco Mandatory Health Benefits Law

Excerpt: A group representing restaurant operators in San Francisco asked the Supreme Court on Friday to temporarily block the city government there from requiring employers to spend specific amounts on health care for their employees, arguing that a city ordinance is barred by federal worker benefit law.  MORE >>

Pennsylvania Launches External Review Program for Health Claim Denials

"The Pennsylvania Insurance Department's Independent Review Program launched this month. It assigns eligible cases to teams of doctors, specialists and other experts who determine if an insurance denial was correctly or incorrectly issued.... The program will take cases submitted by residents who have health plans they purchased through Pennie, the state's [ACA] marketplace; people who buy their insurance directly from a company; and workers who get health plans through their employers."

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Small Business Owners Have Mixed Reviews On Health Law's Tax Credits

Excerpt: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business say the tax credits, which will provide a credit worth 50 percent of an employer's contribution toward employee health insurance premiums for the smallest firms, will actually do little to help small businesses afford health insurance.  MORE >>

Pennsylvania's Governor Rendell Signs Common Law Marriage Bill (PDF)

2 pages. Excerpt: On November 23, 2004, Governor Rendell signed into law HB 2719, abolishing common law marriage. The new law states that '[n]o common law marriage, contracted after January 1, 2005, shall be valid.' The law further provides that it does not invalidate an otherwise lawful common law marriage contracted on or before that date. As a result, most, but not all of the issues presented by a series of court decisions relating to common law marriage have been resolved.

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Proposed Pennsylvania Mechanics' Lien Law Could Mean Litigation Over ERISA Preemption

"It has been reported that Rep. William Keller, D-Philadelphia, introduced a bill in the General Assembly to amend the state's Mechanics' Lien Law to classify union benefit fund trustees as subcontractors allowed to pursue claims for nonpayment against employers and property owners. This action followed a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that unions and benefit fund trustees do not qualify as subcontractors as a result of collective bargaining agreements with employers. There is one small problem with this bill: the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ... [which] sets forth the procedure for fund trustees to collect for nonpayment, and would seemingly preempt such a state law."  MORE >>

Pennsylvania Mini-COBRA Law Now in Effect

Excerpt: Pennsylvania has adopted a 'mini-COBRA' law which covers group health insurance policies offered to employees of small employers. The new law protects employees who are not covered by the health coverage continuation rules imposed by COBRA at the federal level. Generally, insured group health plans offered by Pennsylvania employers with between two and 19 employees now must provide continuation of health insurance coverage under its group health insurance plans under circumstances similar to those set forth in the federal health coverage continuation rules frequently referred to as COBRA.

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The U.S. Public Pension Crisis as Exemplified by Pennsylvania

"Pennsylvania has approximately 3,200 public pension plans, which represents about 25% of all such plans in the United States. Compared with other municipal pension plans nationally, Pennsylvania's are quite small ... with about two-thirds of them covering 10 or less workers, and an estimated 1/3 of those plans covering three or fewer municipal workers. Having so few workers covered by PA municipal plans results in much higher plan expenses at about three times the administrative costs of plans covering 500 or more workers."

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Pennsylvania Governor Signs PBM Reform Legislation Into Law

"HB 1993: [1] will prohibit certain 'steering' practices, such as requiring a policyholder to purchase drugs exclusively through a mail order pharmacy or at a pharmacy owned or controlled by the PBM. ... [2] prohibits a pharmacy from charging a price that is more than the consumer would pay if they walked in off the street and paid in cash or that is more than the pharmacy would receive from the insurer or PBM.... [3] contains robust network adequacy requirements that require a PBM to establish a network that meets or exceeds federal Medicare access standards."  MORE >>

Pennsylvania Court Says ERISA Does Not Preempt State Law Claim That HMO Was Negligent (PDF)

Excerpt: On June 19, 2000, the Supreme Court entered an order granting certiorari in Pappas I, vacating the judgment of this court, and remanding the case for our further consideration in light of Pegram v. Hendrich ... For all the reasons that follow, we adhere to our original opinion and order.... [Plaintiffs claim the HMO] was negligent in causing an inordinate delay in transferring [a patient] to a facility equipped and immediately available to handle his neurological emergency.

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Pennsylvania Leaders Discuss Obamacare's Failure to Address Health Care Challenges

"[S]tate and business leaders testified that increasing health care costs impose burdens on employers, restricting their ability to create new jobs. Additionally, they discussed ways the 2010 health care reform law has exacerbated the health care challenges facing Pennsylvania workers and employers."  MORE >>

Pennsylvania Enacts Noncompete Law for Healthcare Providers

"The new law, the Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, will take effect on January 1, 2025. When it does, it will prohibit any employer (person or group of persons that employ a health care practitioner at a health care facility or office) from requiring a health care practitioner (MD, DO, CRNA, CRNP, or PA) to sign a 'noncompete covenant.' "  MORE >>

Prescription Drug Pricing Under the Pennsylvania Medical Assistance Managed Care Program (PDF)

114 pages. "[The] objectives for this study were ... [1] To provide an overview of the distribution of and payment for pharmaceuticals in the medical assistance managed care program. [2] To review the reimbursement practices of pharmacy benefit managers [PBMs] to pharmacies within this Commonwealth. [3] To review the reimbursement practices of managed care organizations to [PBMs]. [4] To investigate and compare the reimbursement rates paid by [PBMs] to independent pharmacies and chain pharmacies. [5] To study the best practices and laws adopted by other states to address concerns with pharmacy reimbursement practices of [PBMs]."  MORE >>

Half of U.S. Small Businesses Think Health Law Bad for Them

"Forty-eight percent of U.S. small-business owners say the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) is going to be bad for their business, compared with 9% who say it is going to be good, and 39% who expect no impact.... Similarly, 52% of owners say the ACA is going to reduce the quality of healthcare they and their employees receive."  MORE >>

Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance Back Issue Set

The NCEO's Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance, published from 1989 to 2010, was the only professional journal in the U.S. devoted to employee ownership, ranging from ESOPs to stock options and more. This is a set of the back issues that are still in print (see the link for a list).

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Supreme Court Declines Review of Oklahoma Law Regulating PBMs

"A 2023 ruling by the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will stand after the nation's highest court denied certiorari in the legal dispute over Oklahoma's Patient's Right to Pharmacy Choice Act, which regulates pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)." [PCMA v. Mulready, No. 22-6074 (10th Cir. Aug. 15, 2023; cert pet. denied Jun. 30, 2025, No. 23-1213)]  MORE >>

SSRN Announces New Journal of Abstracts: Employee Benefits, Compensation and Pension Law

Edited by Pamela Perun of the Urban Institute, it will contain abstracts of working papers, forthcoming articles, and recently published articles on fringe benefits, health benefits, qualified and non-qualified pension plans, individual retirement accounts, executive compensation, disability, worker's compensation, Social Security, ERISA and related tax law. It will also feature articles on the economic and legal aspects of retirement income policy in the U.S. and abroad.  MORE >>

Hands Tied: Businesses Look for Ways Around Health Care Law

"With the reality of the new health care law slowly setting in across the country, small businesses are making plans to protect themselves from the most onerous provisions. Some small businesses are making plans to cut workers hours to 30 hours a week. Or, pass the costs on to customers through a surcharge. Still others say they won't grow their business at all. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that some companies are looking at splitting their companies into separate entities to stay below the magical 50 employees threshold."

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Pennsylvania Employers Get Tax Break for Paid Donor Leave

Excerpt: Pennsylvania employers providing paid time off to employees who donate bone morrow or organs will be eligible for tax credits under legislation, H.B. 153, signed into law this week by Gov. Edward G. Rendell.

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Pennsylvania House OKs Further HSA Tax Breaks

Excerpt: Legislation approved last week by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives would expand a 2005 law and give additional tax breaks to contributions made to health savings accounts.

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Wall Street Journal Interviews Experts on Solutions to the 'Nest-Egg Blues'

Excerpt: For tips on how to regain financial and emotional equilibrium in scary economic times, The Wall Street Journal convened a panel at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. The participants were: John L. McKeever III, a chartered financial consultant ... Olivia S. Mitchell, professor of insurance and risk management at the Wharton School [and] Jack L. VanDerhei, associate professor at the Fox School of Business and Management at Temple University...

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