The Dobbs Decision: Initial Implications For Employee Benefits

In response to the Dobbs opinion and resulting restrictions on abortion services in some states, a number of national employers have announced their intentions to offer travel benefits to their employees to access those services in other states through their employer health plans. Although the ability to reimburse amounts expended to travel for medical care is not new, employers are taking a fresh look at this benefit. Depending upon an employee's location and the legal landscape of states that ban abortion, an employee possibly could have to travel hundreds of miles to get an abortion, which may or may not be feasible. The legal considerations with offering any employer-based travel benefit (i.e., whether to offer it under the employer health plan or as a stand-alone employee benefit) can be complicated and requires careful analysis. This section focuses solely on the implications of offering a travel benefit through the employer's health plan. Each employer who