After the US Supreme Court abolished the federal right to abortion in place for half a century, companies like Amazon, Disney, Apple and JP Morgan have promised to cover the travel expenses of employees residing in states where the procedure it is now illegal, so they can terminate the pregnancy.

However, companies have provided little detail on how they will do this and it is unclear whether they will be able to do so legally while protecting employee privacy and protecting them from prosecution.

“Most employers weren’t prepared to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling, and even those who were didn’t realize the law would literally change the next minute,” said Brian Kropp, vice president of the company. Gartner consulting. “They are trying to catch up,” he added.

Kropp explained that many companies have announced plans to offer travel benefits without the necessary infrastructure to make them work.

Some, he added, are creating additional policies that employees can purchase to cover aborted travel, while others are contacting insurers to see if travel can be added to their current plans.

The privacy dilemma

Others are trying to find out how to offer an advantage without violating privacy of employees.

“Will employees have to tell their boss that they will have to travel from Texas to California to have an abortion?” Kropp wondered.

The answer is no, but they may have to tell HR or a similar department that they are pregnant and want to have an abortion, said Sharona Hoffman, a professor of health law at Case Western Reserve University.

The company or health insurance would then provide money upfront or reimbursement after the procedure was completed.

Hoffman called the commitment to cover travel expenses a “generous benefit” for companies and said he would not be surprised “if this becomes a practice adopted by multiple companies, only without announcing it with great fanfare”, for fear of reactions public statements on such a controversial issue as abortion could provoke.

“It’s not necessarily selfless,” he said. “It also makes sense that companies don’t have a group of female employees who are very distressed about having unwanted pregnancies and having to carry the baby to term.”

Alternatives

For now, most of the large companies that offer an abortion are traveling to advantage likely to add to existing health planssaid Jonathan Zimmerman, a partner at the Morgan Lewis law firm that helps companies build and keep profits.

Large companies are often self-insured, which means they pay all claims and have more flexibility in deciding what plans will cover. A third party then processes the complaints on your behalf.

Such is the case with outdoor sportswear company Patagonia, which updated its health coverage last fall to add travel expenses for its employees following a Texas law banning most abortions.

Patagonia said abortion and travel expenses are administered in the same way as other medical services, ensuring employee confidentiality.

Restaurant review firm Yelp said her abortion travel benefit is also handled by her health insurance provider. Yelp has already told its employees that if they take advantage of the travel benefit, the company will not have access to the details of the service.

Microsoft, for its part, has reported that it already covers abortion – as well as gender-affirming treatment – for its employees and has now expanded the coverage to include travel expenses for “these and other forensic services” if they are not available in an employee’s home state.

Smaller, more complicated businesses

Smaller companies may have fewer options. They often purchase their employees’ health insurance from insurers that are subject to state regulations. Those companies have less flexibility for design benefits and they can operate in states that prohibit abortion.

Dr Ami Parekh, chief health officer of Included Health, which offers virtual assistance and healthcare guidance services for employers, said it is “a real struggle” right now for large employers to be able to navigate such a challenging landscape.

“They are moving as fast as possible,” Parekh said. “And I bet they will be agile and change as needed as things turn out.”

For example, some companies offer to pay a companion to travel with the abortion person.

Doubts and possible changes

With a rapidly changing legal landscape, adding travel benefits to an existing medical plan also carries risks.

In May, fourteen Texas state lawmakers sent a letter to Lyft warning the company to end its abortion rush benefit and saying they planned to enact a law that would prevent companies from doing business in Texas if they did. paid for abortions or reimbursed for abortion-related expenses. an abortion.

That said, so far no such law has been passed in Texas or anywhere else. It is also not illegal to travel to states where abortion is legal, Hoffman noted. However, there are attempts to change this situation.

And while the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, protects sensitive patient information, the rule can be ignored in cases where a crime has been committed. This is what is happening now in states where abortion has become a crime.

“It is difficult for employers to navigate a rapidly changing legal landscape,” said Sharon Masling, director of Morgan Lewis’ Reproductive Rights Task Force. “There will be a lot of controversy in the coming years. “.

In addition to the legal issues, abortion travel allowances also present some thorny issues in the workplace, Kropp said.

Employees who don’t support abortion may get upset if the company pays for other employees’ travel, for example. Even those who advocate for abortion may wonder why the company doesn’t pay for transgender travel for fertility treatment or health care, she said.

That’s why, experts say, some companies may offer travel benefits but not advertise them publicly.

“My feeling is that most employers are trying to figure out very quickly what is best for their employees and the people they report to,” Parekh said. “And not all employers want to spend energy to be very public about this right now,” she concluded.

Source: Associated Press

Translation: Elisa Carnelli

CB