SCOTUS Declines Review in Case Allowing Health Care Provider to Pursue State Law Misrepresentation Claims Against ERISA Health Plan

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Contact

The United States Supreme Court recently denied certiorari in a Fifth Circuit case, United Healthcare Insurance Co. v. Access Mediquip LLC, that allowed a health care provider to pursue state law misrepresentation claims against an ERISA-governed health insurance plan. 

The provider, a medical device company, alleged that it supplied devices to patients based on representations from the ERISA plan that it would reimburse reasonable charges for the devices and related services.

The District Court ruled that ERISA preempted the state law misrepresentation claims. The Fifth Circuit reversed, holding that the state law claims could go forward because the alleged misrepresentations were based on promises of reimbursement, rather than the terms of the ERISA plan. That ruling drew a distinction between plan beneficiaries and healthcare providers with respect to reimbursement representations – ERISA preempted the former but not the latter.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP | Attorney Advertising

Written by:

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Contact
more
less

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP on:

Reporters on Deadline

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
Custom Email Digest
- hide
- hide