The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Vermont's appeal of a federal circuit court ruling that exempts self-insured companies from reporting health care claims data to the state, the court announced Monday. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled in January 2014 that Liberty Mutual, which offers self-insured health benefit plans to its employees, should not have to report its claims data to Vermont, citing a provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Claims data collected by the state is fed into a database that is intended to be a comprehensive source for all health care payments in Vermont, from government programs as well as from individuals and private insurers.
