Why was ERISA created?

ERISA claims were designed so that companies could offer benefits more affordable to employees. The idea was that, by making it more difficult to get into court in the event of a dispute, it would cut down on the cost for an insurance company to defend claim denials.

Essentially, the Government created a system that said you have to go back and appeal to the company at least once, if not twice, before you bring in a lawsuit in Federal court. And the thought process was that, if we make it higher barriers to get into court, then it would be less expensive to manage these disability claims and hence we could offer these policies at lower premiums.