Barbara A. De Buono, New York Commissioner of Health, et al. v. Nysa-ila Medical and Clinical Services Fund, Etc., et al. (520 U.S. 806)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 2, 1997 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 520 U.S. 806 · 117 S. Ct. 1747
- Decided
- June 2, 1997
- Term
- October Term 1996
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. This is another Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) pre-emption case. Broadly stated, the question presented is whether hospitals operated by ERISA plans are subject to the same laws as other hospitals. More precisely, the question is whether the opaque language in ERISA’s § 514(a) precludes New York from imposing a gross receipts tax on the income of medical centers operated by ERISA funds. We hold that New York may collect its tax. I In 1990, faced with the choice of either curtailing its Medicaid program or generating additional revenue to reduce the program deficit, the New York General Assembly enacted the Health Facility Assessment (HFA). The HFA imposes a tax on gross receipts for patient services at hospitals, residential health care facilities, and diagnostic and treatment centers. The assessments become a part of the State’s general revenues. Respondents are the trustees of the NYSA-ILA Medical and Clinical Services Fund (Fund), which administers a self-insured, multiemployer welfare benefit plan. The Fund owns and operates three medical centers — two in New York and one in New Jersey — that provide medical, dental, and other health care benefits primarily to longshore workers, retirees, and their dependents. The New York centers are licensed by the State as “diagnostic and treatment centers,”…
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