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A few days after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Roe Wade, some major US companies have said they will cover travel expenses for non-abortion workers in their area.
High profile profiles such as Apple, Target, Starbuck, Amazon and Disney, ABC News parent company are among the 26 states that have banned abortions and are among those who have promised to help their employees buy travel. In a court decision, the Guttmacher Institute predicted in October. Abortion restrictions are already in place in many states.
But the new policies place companies in states that prohibit the process as a key stronghold for abortion rights, posing a threat to the privacy of employees who share their personal details in order to subsidize travel expenses. Experts have told ABC that punishment or discrimination based on a desire to receive workers’ benefits can prevent women from using it.
In the early days of these policies, experts said, it is difficult to assess exactly what companies still want to implement and the state-by-state legal environment in the process. He added that federal law provides incomplete protection for medical information and urged companies to administer the plan through a health insurer rather than directly.
Wendy Parmet, a professor of health law at Northwest University, said: “Women should not think that these policies are 100% guaranteed. “On the other hand, there are protections.”
She added: “We risk the fact that the fear itself will be a more serious obstacle to getting the care we need.”
Experts say the central question of the new policies on abortion procedures is whether companies will manage the subsidy through an insurer or work on their own.
According to Sharon and Hoffman, a professor of health law at Case Western Reserve University, if the benefit is from the insurer, the employees will be protected by the employer’s strong privacy protections they receive during their medical care or health benefits. In such cases, HIPAA prohibits the disclosure of medical information about a patient, she added.
If a company offers its benefits directly, those same privacy protections do not apply. “HIPAA does not apply to employers – there is no HIPAA privacy coverage,” Hoffman said.
She said federal law provides for the protection of confidential medical information held by employers under the United States Disability Act.
“If a person is diagnosed with HIV or cancer, they cannot disclose it to anyone else unless they tell the supervisor who should provide shelter for the workers,” she said, adding that it is not clear how such protection will be implemented. For women who want to use the company’s coverage for abortion-related trips.
Experts emphasize the uncertain implications of legislation to prevent abortions. If such a law is enforced and the travel authorization company or insurance company authorizes it to provide information to law enforcement, you may be required to turn it over.
“HIPAA is different from law enforcement,” said Hoffman, a professor of health law at Case Western Reserve University. “Even health care providers need to respond to requests from law enforcement.”
Employees holding market baskets November 28, 2019 in Target Corp., New York, Queens District. You are ready to open a store.
Bloomberg in Getty Images, File
Companies need to develop guidelines on how to respond to potential legal attacks on their policies, said Sonja Spo, director of the women’s advocacy group Ultraviolet Reproductive Campaign.
“If you are giving these benefits to employees, you need to make sure you have a plan in place to protect them,” she said. “Employees should be protected from any attempt by anyone in authority to view and use information.”
ABC News has asked questions about the privacy issues of 20 major companies that have recently announced travel policies for non-abortion workers. Eight companies responded, seven of which commented on their policies but did not answer questions about privacy.
A company, Yale, responded directly to questions from ABC News regarding privacy policy.
A spokesman for Yelp told ABC News: “The privacy and security of our staff have been crucial in our efforts to promote this benefit through our health insurance.”
A number of companies have made general statements on the privacy policy regarding their travel policies, including Bank of America, Lift, Dick Sports Equipment and Meta, Facebook.
Meta’s spokesman told ABC: “We intend to compensate for travel expenses for workers seeking out-of-state health care and reproductive services to the extent permitted by law.” We are in the process of assessing how this can be done in terms of legal complexities. “
When changing political and legal landscapes, companies need to adapt regularly to keep employee information private, said Christine Vinnick, a lawyer at Hill Ward Henderson, a law firm, told ABC News.
“This is the beginning of the transition – not the end because of the previous change,” she said.
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