ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, set federal standards for employer-sponsored benefit plans and allowed large employers to self-fund their own health plans by paying claims directly. The law emerged from pension-plan scandals in the early 1970s, most visibly the 1963 closure of Studebaker's South Bend plant, and was signed into law by President Ford on September 2, 1974.
ERISA's preemption clause supersedes state laws relating to employee benefit plans, and its "deemer clause" closes the loophole that would otherwise let states declare a self-funded plan to be "insurance." This single piece of legislation is why self-funded employers, now 67% of all covered workers nationally, carry more direct financial flexibility than fully-insured employers, and why the CAA's disclosure requirements apply specifically to "ERISA plans."
ERISA was enacted and signed into law on September 2, 1974, following a series of pension-plan funding scandals in the early 1970s, most notably the Studebaker Corporation pension collapse in 1963.
ERISA's preemption and "deemer" clauses are what allowed large employers to self-fund their own health plans in the first place, paying claims directly while remaining exempt from most state insurance regulations that apply to fully-insured plans.
ERISA governs most private-sector employer-sponsored plans, though church plans, most government plans, and plans maintained solely to comply with workers' comp or disability laws are generally exempt. Confirm specific plan applicability with qualified legal counsel before publishing plan-specific guidance.
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