Should Congress Listen to Justice Ginsburg, and Amend ERISA?
This brings me to my third point: Congress could take up Justice Ginsburg’s invitation quite easily. So far, Congress has refused to amend ERISA to prevent HMOs and other insurers who offer employer-sponsored plans from offering the sort of silly, limited plans that Justice Thomas now claims that they are free to offer. Congress has not passed a “Patient’s Bill of Rights” that would build into ERISA the sort of “make whole” remedies that Justice Ginsburg believes already exist. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush told the nation in a debate with Al Gore that “If I’m the president . . . people will be able to take their HMO insurance company to court. That’s what I’ve done in Texas, and that’s the kind of leadership style I’ll bring to Washington.” It turns out, though, that what Bush did in Texas was undone by the Supreme Court, in part with the support of his own Justice Department. If Bush really believes what he said in 2000, then now is the time for him to speak out, and to promise e
