What has been the impact of ERISA on the regulation of disability insurance plans?
The unintended impact of the ERISA law has been to facilitate the denial of legitimate long term disability claims by insurance companies. ERISA makes the insurance company judge and jury of its own disability claims, and puts a large burden on the claimant throughout the process. ERISA also removes the threat of damage awards in court proceedings that the insurance company has to consider when the case is governed by state law. In spite of these hurdles, disabled individuals can still prevail when their claim is contested.
