Creeping Impoverization: Material Conditions, Income Inequality, And ERISA Pedagogy Early In The 21st Century

This Essay argues that the current trend focusing on the law and economics theory does a disservice to the full-spectrum of legal issues. Law and economics, according to the author, is a value -neutral approach to the law. It fails to take into account poverty and other social values when thinking about the law. Finally, law schools should recalibrate their approach and, in some instances, take social values into account when teaching the law

The Changing World of Employee Benefits

The employee benefits picture, at least for many plan participants and some plan sponsors, is a scary and bleak one. The number of workers with pension coverage is declining, health insurance rates are rising much faster than the rate of inflation, and the number of uninsured continues to rise as well. The decline in union density, the recent boost given by the U.S. Supreme Court to Any Willing Provider ( AWP ) laws, and the deluge of recent benefits-related scandals are also all part of this landscape. This Article examines each of these issues, with a focus on reforms that would increase pension and health insurance coverage rates. The first argument is that the path toward reform will be profoundly affected by the nature of the conversation about the problems employers and employees face in trying to reach an optimal level of benefits coverage. The Article proposes the adoption of a non-emotional, non-value laden framework that takes into account the stark economic realities both parties face. The problem of declining union density and its implications for the assertion of employee bargaining power are considered next. With respect to health insurance, the Article looks at recent experience with small employer purchasing groups and makes a controversial proposal that employees be permitted to trade cash for benefits. Finally, the Article asserts that in cases of fraud and malfeasance (highlighted by recent scandals) the core problem is one of sub-optimal deterrence. The solution is an amendment to ERISA that would permit a punitive damage sanction in cases of egregious employer/plan sponsor behavior

The Economics and Politics of Emergency Health Care for the Poor: The Patient Dumping Dilemma

As the numbers of uninsured mount4 because of job dislocations, exhaustion of benefits, and unaffordably high premiums, the incidence of dumping by private hospitals is, predictably, on the rise. Dumping occurs when a hospital, in violation of federal or state law, transfers an emergency patient to another (usually public) hospital or simply refuses any treatment based on the patient\u27s inability to pay.5 In addition to the completely uninsured, favorite dumping targets include Medicare and Medicaid patients, AIDS patients, and cancer patients whose therapy may cost more than the maximum reimbursement under private insurance. Dumping is merely a part of what is commonly referred to as the health care crisis which, in turn, is really a crisis involving two related, but distinct, issues: access and cost. There are two common themes to the complaints about health care voiced by consumers, insurers, providers, and politicians. These are (1) its high (and growing) cost and (2) the fact that millions have no access to good, consistent care because they are uninsured. Dumping is a blatant example of the difficulties the under- and uninsured face in securing access to health care

Personal Narratives and Racial Distinctiveness in the Legal Academy

A small group of legal academicians is embroiled in yet another debate that, to the uninitiated at least, appears to have little or nothing to do with the law. 1 This time the issue is the ideology of legal writing style-that is, does a growing, unique body of legal scholarship that draws on the personal experiences of minority faculty and, arguably, reflects the racial oppression these scholars have suffered, produce distinct normative insights? 2 Professor Patricia Williams of the University of Wisconsin clearly believes that it does. In her new book, The Alchemy of Race and Rights,3 which is essentially a collection of twelve essays described in the jacket as autobiographical, she discusses an extraordinarily wide range of subjects, including student evaluations, antisemitism, maternity leave, and the Howard Beach incident. The essays are united by Williams\u27 conscious attempt to distance herself from traditional legal scholarship as she discusses the many ways in which race, class, and sometimes gender intersect and affect an almost bewildering variety of issues. She states at the outset that her work is an intentional departure 4 from a traditionally legal black-letter[] vocabulary.

Insecure Retirement Income, Wrongful Plan Administration and Other Employee Benefits Woes—Evaluating ERISA at Age Thirty

Book review of James A. Wooten\u27s The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974—A Political Histor