What effect did the enactment of ERISA have on self-insurance programs?
ERISA specifies that no employee benefit plan “shall be deemed to be an insurance company or other insurer.” This implies that: A State cannot claim that an employer with a self-insured plan is doing “insurance business” and thus must pay a premium tax. A State cannot require self-insured plans to conform to the same requirements pertaining to insurance companies, including contract filing rules, reserve requirements, and capitalization requirements.
