There’s a disturbing article over at Bloomberg about the (pretty horrendous) games insurance companies play with respect to policies governed by ERISA.  The ironic thing is that the ERISA statute was designed to protect workers.  But the so-called “arbitrary and capricious” standard of review sets such a low bar that claims often get denied for reasons invented out of whole cloth.  (I’ve handled a few of those myself.) Shame on any claims person who does this.  Shame on any company spokesperson who defends the practice.  Shame on any judge who lets the carrier get away with it.  And let’s all remember that when the government eventually steps in to regulate this area more strictly, the industry has only itself to blame.