Health your username March 10, 2021 On Tuesday the court issued an opinion in a case brought against Anthem Insurance Companies Inc. and others. The Southern District of Indiana case presented the question of whether ERISA pre-emption from a primary insurance plan’s coverage extends to secondary insurance when the secondary coverage is conditioned on the primary insurance’s coverage. The court rejected Amthem’s motion to dismiss the case. The opinion recounted that the plaintiffs sued on behalf of their minor child regarding a vaccination the child was supposed to receive in a timely manner to prevent massive medical complications. The child had primary insurance coverage under Kroger Prescription Plans and obtained secondary Medicaid insurance coverage under Anthem BCBS. When the parents sought to obtain the vaccination dose, the patient’s primary coverage, Kroger, indicated that the balance would go to the deductible, making the payment the responsibility of the secondary insurance. The secondary insurance indicated that the primary insurance had not submitted sufficient information to obtain authorization for the vaccination to confirm that it was medically necessary as opposed to denied as non-covered, which would change the processing by the secondary coverage. The delay in processing between the two insurance companies resulted in the effective period for the vaccine passing and the patient contracting the disease, resulting in an extended and life threatening hospital stay, the opinion said.