"Over the past two months, the United States Court of Appeals for both the Ninth Circuit and the Third Circuit have upheld 'anti-assignment' clauses in ERISA-governed health plan documents. These holdings -- which adopt the same position previously taken by the First, Second, Fifth, Tenth, and Eleventh circuits -- are a blow to healthcare providers that attempt to bring suits against employer-sponsored health plans (or the insurance companies funding benefits under those plans) as 'assignees' of individual plan participants."  MORE >>