Abortion: Many companies require workers to pay for out-of-state travel for health procedures

Prominent corporations, especially those in New Jersey’s life sciences sector, won’t let the Garden State’s legal abortion situation keep them out of the national conversation.

Recently, the United States Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Following the Jackson decision, which overturned the half-century-old Roe v. Wade ruling, companies in half of the states expected to ban or restrict abortions announced they would pay. Travel outside the region for such services.

While abortion remains legal at all levels in New Jersey, local corporations have a significant employee base in states where that’s not true — and perhaps a larger share now, in a telecommuting-dominant environment.

Following a draft Supreme Court decision earlier this year, major companies like Microsoft and Tesla announced they would cover the costs of workers seeking safe, legal abortions if they weren’t provided by the state.

After the ruling was announced, several big brands — Disney, JPMorgan and others — announced they would pay for travel expenses for medical procedures, including abortions, in states where abortion is legal.

“Very large companies are expanding their programs to include reproductive health care and travel reimbursement policies,” said Kelly Bird, director of the employment and labor law group at Gibbons PC.

Bird added that many companies have existing medical travel benefits for employees in their health care plans that allow them to seek procedures not available in their home states.

That’s especially important for patients who often seek cancer care in the tri-state area, she said. Most benefits have annual covers, sometimes spread over multiple indemnified trips for medical procedures each year.

New Jersey-based corporations such as New Brunswick-based Johnson & Johnson and Bridgewater-based Sanofin have released statements to the media suggesting that travel and lodging coverage benefits also apply to women’s reproductive health services.

Other biopharma companies that are expanding their New Jersey footprint, such as Beijing and Gilead, have publicly announced that they will cover travel expenses for employees who do not have legal reproductive services in their home countries.

While the issue is controversial, it’s often a position Bird sees her clients willing to take — even if they’re not always widely known.

That’s true, even though legalization is “a little tricky,” Bird said, as more states move to ban the aiding and abetting of out-of-state abortions.

“What our customers really want to do is allow their employees to get the health care that they think will benefit us,” she said.

Information please

If there’s one thing employers should know about health insurance benefits…employees need to know more about them soon.

Employers must begin verifying that posting the cost of medical services included in their health insurance plan is due to new federal price transparency rules. The requirements stem from the aptly named No Surprises Act, part of a larger act signed into law in late 2020.

Under the new rules, employers must list prices online for common medical services — routine office visits, MRIs, some surgeries and screenings — for insurance plans starting in 2023. For plans starting next year, employers should let their employees know the cost. Any and all services covered by the plan.

The disclosure requirements were set to take effect in early January but have been pushed back by regulatory agencies until July.

Lisa Gingelski of Lindaberry, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper Employers directly controls these listings and, while not working through vendors, is the employer responsible for making user-friendly information readily available.

Gingelski, a partner in the Westfield-based labor, employment and employee benefits group, said this new responsibilities include an opportunity to build trust in the employer-employee relationship.

Employers want to demonstrate that they are taking those steps to arm their employees with the information they need to make the best health decisions when receiving medical care.

Gingelsky said it will be interesting to see how the new transparency rules interact with telehealth services that are prevalent today.

“Overall, this is something that needs attention,” she said. “It will change the landscape of health care benefits.”