Flaws in Federal ERISA law

The Associated Press carried an article today, discussing some of the problems with ERISA rules promulgated by the Federal government.  It provided one particularly heart-wrenching example.  A thirty year-old cancer victim's young family was denied his insurance benefits after his employer changed insurers during his disability period.  Under the new insurer's plan, disabled workers were required to report to work for one day to maintain coverage.  The worker, Thomas Armschwand, was suffering from cardiac cancer and on disability, but could have worked one day:  unfortunately, no one told him he needed to and when he died, his family was denied more than a quarter million dollars of coverage.  Because the plan was ERISA-sponsored, he could not sue either the insurer or the human resources people who had reassured him that he was covered without advising him of the "one-day work" requirement.