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Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care said they will cover airfare, car rentals and hotel stays for people who cannot obtain abortions where they live. This Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield follows a similar movement.
The expansion of travel benefits follows last month’s Supreme Court decision to strike down federal abortion protections. The decision led to a crackdown on abortion policies across the country. Some states are banning abortions, others like Massachusetts have reaffirmed or expanded abortion rights, and are accepting patients from other parts of the country.
Abortion doctors in Massachusetts and other states are facing a flood of new patients seeking care.
Dr. Claire Levesque, chief medical officer for commercial products at Point32Health, the parent company of Tufts and Harvard Pilgrim, said health plans want to provide equal coverage to members across the country.
“This is a very important health equity issue,” she said. “Now vulnerable individuals are caught in this trap and find it harder to find a way to travel to access the service.”
And as Dr. Levesque added, “I feel this is getting in the way of doctor-patient privacy. The doctor and the patient should make personal decisions about treatment.”
Health plans may be taking a legal risk by taking this position, as some states have laws that allow prosecution of anyone who assists in an abortion.
Still, Levesque said, the health plans want to do “the right thing” by offering abortions.
Tufts and Harvard Pilgrim — based in Massachusetts but with members across the country — also pay travel expenses for members who need gender-affirming surgery and live in states where those services are prohibited.
The state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, has about 800,000 members who live outside of Massachusetts, a number that could grow as telecommuting becomes more popular.
Dr. Sandhya Rao, Blue Cross’s chief medical officer, said the company’s clients — employers who provide insurance for their employees — began to raise concerns about abortion when the Supreme Court’s draft decision leaked in May.
“We started hearing much earlier than our bills. And so we started working on this program the day we heard the leak,” Rao said. “Like many health care organizations, we want to prepare for the day the announcement comes out.”
Blue Cross pays for members who need to travel 100 miles or more to obtain a medically-assisted or surgical abortion.
Many other insurers around the country are taking similar steps.
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