Excerpt: The Tenth Circuit recently held that ERISA preempts a Utah state insurance statute which prohibits insured employee benefit plans from including 'discretionary clauses' other than those prescribed by the statute. Discretionary clauses, which reserve to the plan administrator the discretion to interpret the plan document and determine the benefits payable, have long been staple language in ERISA plans. The decision conflicts with decisions in the Ninth and Sixth Circuits, which held such state laws enforceable.

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