Jeanine:
How do you know you must provide for benefits that are mandated by Ohio?
How do you know that you cannot provide benefits that are prohibited?
I wonder if your state has a nonconventional policy provision, which could allow for this.
I am not saying that your commissioner would do this.
The question is "Has this type of negotiation ever been attempted for fully insured plans?"
Is there a state law in Ohio which prohibits this type of dialogue?
Don Levit

Steve and Jeanine:
One thing I forgot to mention.
Metropolitan v. Massachusetts was a case between an insurer and a state.
It was not between a plan sponsor and a state.
Does anyone know of a federal case in which the 2 parties were a plan sponsor of a fully insured plan and a state?
Don Levit

Don, should not exist, due to the Federal preemption of ERISA, states only regulate plans through the Department of Insurance requirements for insured contracts.

Brett:
Real funny, you little .........
Okay, now this ERISA preemption stuff is hard to get a handle on.
It's been litigated for over 20 years, so I doubt we can wrap this up today.
But, if we work together, we can make some progress.
Maybe we need a bit of a breather.
Let me know when you feel more comfortable about sticking to the message, not the messenger.
Believe me, the message is a bit more important than the messenger.
Don Levit