Surviving Preemption: The Importance of Chapter 58 in the Context of America's Health Care Crisis

Amidst a lavish ceremony in Boston’s Faneuil Hall on April 12, 2006, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed into law Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006: An Act Providing Access to Affordable, Quality, Accountable Health Care. At that time, Chapter 58 represented the most comprehensive state health reform ever passed in the country, and the first with the potential to provide near universal health coverage. Since Romney signed Chapter 58, it has been the focus of a great deal of national media attention. Other states are evaluating whether Chapter 58’s complicated bipartisan formula could be effective within their borders, and Romney plans on basing his presidential campaign to a large extent on Chapter 58’s potential as a model for national health reform. However, Chapter 58 faces a potential legal challenge under the preemption clause of the federal 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In part, ERISA acts to limit the burden on employee benefit plans established by multi-state employers from state regulation.