This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Although hardly a blockbuster case in terms of media attention, Gobeille has vital implications for employee benefit plans — and for future attempts to impose state-specific regimes to gather health data from those plans.
Gobeille arises out of a dispute between the state of Vermont and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Vermont, like a growing number of other states, requires that health insurers — including self-funded ERISA health plans — report data on healthcare provided to their members to an “all-payer claims database” (APCD). Vermont uses the information in its APCD to study the healthcare system and assess how to improve health policy. Currently, 18 states have APCD laws, and numerous others are considering creating one.
