On the recordJune 9, 1998
Absolutely. Mr. Speaker, if I can comment on that, and one other thing that the gentleman said so eloquently, the reason is because when we talk about insurance plans that are basically for the self-employed, if you will, we have the ERISA preemption. Essentially what that means is that if the State, like my home State of New Jersey, passes a patient protection act, if they will, which they did, I should say, is now law, it does not apply to the majority of people who have health insurance in the State because of the Federal preemption, so to speak. So if we do not pass a Federal bill like the two that you have mentioned, then the majority of people in New Jersey are not actually impacted by the State Patient Protection Act. So that is why we need Federal legislation.
Source
govinfo.gov
