Managed Care + ERISA Litigation group co-chair Patrick Begos was quoted in the Bloomberg Law article “Suits Accuse Employers of Bad Math on Health Deductible Options,” published on August 18, 2026. The article highlights proposed class actions alleging that employers violated their fiduciary responsibility in offering low-deductible health plans that are actually a worse financial deal for most employees than high-deductible plans.

Pat explained that “Enrollees in low-deductible plans may not want to pay thousands of dollars at once for an ER visit under a high-deductible plan…[The plaintiffs’] argument that there’s no benefit to the low-deductible plan ignores the fact that some people may want certainty in their healthcare spending.” Varying network coverage levels in addition to cost-sharing would only complicate choices further, making it harder for employees to compare plans, Pat added. “I don’t see how that would benefit employees if you had that scenario. And I don’t see how it would benefit employees if you eliminated the low-deductible plan from the options that the employees had to choose from.” Proving injuries and defining damages in the health plan space is more difficult, leading to the question of what relief the plaintiffs could be granted under ERISA. “The plan itself hasn’t suffered a clear injury when a participant buys the high-premium, low-deductible plan,” Pat said.

Read the article.