Alaska’s prompt pay statute—which requires insurers to pay benefit claims within 30 days of submission—is preempted by federal laws governing employer-provided benefits and benefits for government workers, a federal judge ruled.

The case is Zipperer v. Premera Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Alaska, 2016 BL 265226, D. Alaska, No. 3:15-CV-00208 JWS, 8/16/16. (Kudos to my partner, Gwendolyn Payton, on this big win).

The judge’s Aug. 16 decision is the latest in a string of decisions striking down or scaling back state prompt pay laws as preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act.

Earlier this year, a federal appeals court partly struck down Texas’s prompt pay law under the FEHBA and found it inapplicable to self-funded ERISA plans. Georgia’s prompt pay law was partly struck down as ERISA-preempted by a different appeals court in 2014. A district judge in Illinois reached a similar conclusion with respect to that state’s law in 2014.

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Mike Reilly Mike Reilly

Mike Reilly is a nationally recognized labor, employment and employee benefits attorney, named one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys in the Nation” for the past five consecutive years by Human Resource Executive®. He has decades of experience providing strategic employment…

Mike Reilly is a nationally recognized labor, employment and employee benefits attorney, named one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys in the Nation” for the past five consecutive years by Human Resource Executive®. He has decades of experience providing strategic employment advice, and has represented clients in more than 75 jury trials, arbitrations, bench trials and claims before the EEOC and Washington State Human Rights Commission.

Small and large employers retain Mike for his strategic advice and decades of experience in employment issues and litigation, business decisions and litigation avoidance. Mike provides advice in claims involving discrimination, retaliation, wrongful discharge, disability accommodation, ERISA and non-ERISA employee benefit claims, and wage/hour claims. He served as lead counsel in an employee raiding/trade secret case as reported in the Wall Street Journal, and defends employers in class action claims.

Mike’s remarks on employment issues have been quoted in NewsweekCorporate Legal TimesSeattle TimesEmployee Relations Law JournalPuget Sound Business JournalCFO.com, and other professional journals and management publications. Chambers USA’s Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Businessrates Mike in the top ranking (band one) for his work in labor and employment law, and has described him as “one of Seattle’s top-rate attorneys” who is “truly phenomenal [with] superb legal instincts” and “an amazingly assertive litigator.” His clients include Nordstrom, Seattle Seahawks, Home Depot, KeyBank, Starbucks, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Red Robin and Seattle Chamber of Commerce, among others.