In response to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Americans’ constitutional right to abortion, large employers thought they had found a way to help workers living in states where abortions would be banned: provide benefits to support travel to other states for services. But that solution is only triggering questions.
Experts warn that simply claiming the benefits may create paper trails for law enforcement officials in states criminalizing abortion.
“How will law enforcement react to health-related travel, and how will employers respond to that?” are just two of the questions that lawyers are asking themselves, said Lucia Savage, a former Obama administration official and the current chief privacy officer for Omada Health, a California startup that helps people manage chronic conditions, like hypertension and prediabetes.
Some regulations—like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which governs health privacy; and other insurance laws—protect some parts of a patient’s private life. Human resources departments are required to keep some medical data closely held, but a determined law enforcement agent with a search warrant or subpoena could ultimately get access to patient data.
That will complicate life for the dozens of corporations promising to protect, or even expand, the abortion benefits for employees and their dependents.
A KHN review of publicly available statements identified at least 114 companies that had pledged to maintain abortion benefits...
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