Credit: Igor Karon/Thinkstock

"Everyone knows" that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 preempts state laws that "relate to" employer-sponsored health plans — but it's a lot more complicated than that.

Anu Gogna and Benjamin Lupin, attorneys who work as senior regulatory advisors at Willis Towers Watson, a giant insurance broker, warn in a new analysis against employers assuming that federal law will automatically protect their self-insured health plans against state efforts to regulate pharmacy benefit managers.

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Allison Bell

Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.