Is ERISA Up for the Job? Improving Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Affordability

Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms

The Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms is excited to invite you to our upcoming policy briefing, “Is ERISA Up for the Job? Improving Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Affordability,” on Tuesday, June 2. 

More than half of all Americans receive health insurance through an employer, but increasing health care prices, consolidation, and administrative complexities are driving up health plan premiums for employers and employees alike. ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), the long-standing federal law governing employer-sponsored health plans, offers several mechanisms that could help rein in health plan spending and make coverage more affordable. 

Join us on Tuesday, June 2, 8:30-10:00 am ET at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy (500 1st St NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC) to explore how ERISA is keeping health insurance costs in check, where it is falling short, and policy opportunities to help employers get more value out of their health care dollars. 

Speakers include: 

• Stacey Richter, Host of Relentless Health Value Podcast (Moderator) 
• Darren Fogarty, Associate Director, Purchaser Value and Policy, Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH) 
• Karen Handorf, Full Professor of the Practice, CHIR 
• Tim Hauser, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Operations (Retired), Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor 
• Christine H. Monahan, Assistant Research Professor, CHIR 
• David Schleifer, Associate Director of Programs, Peterson Center on Healthcare 

Register to attend!

On the agenda: 

• How can we improve ERISA’s transparency requirements to give employers information they need to be better purchasers? 
• How can we strengthen or expand on ERISA’s broad fiduciary requirements to make sure those in charge of administering health plans are good stewards of health plan dollars? and 
• What should a robust private and public enforcement framework that supports compliance look like? 

Audience Q&A will follow the panel discussion. 

More Information, How to Register