As predicted, the United States Supreme Court issued its final decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which held the U.S. Constitution protected the right of women to terminate a pregnancy prior to the date of viability. The June 24, 2022, Supreme Court decision holds there is no such Constitutional right, and gives the power to regulate the legality of abortions back to the individual states 50 years after Roe. The regulation of abortion at the state level directly impacts the extent to which employers will be able to provide coverage under their health plans, not just for abortion, but for other reproductive health care services.
In anticipation of this decision, many states have acted preemptively to protect the right to terminate pregnancies, but as many as 26 states will now have laws that significantly restrict or ban abortions within their jurisdiction. These laws vary in breadth and scope, from prohibiting physicians from performing abortions, restricting access to abortion medication, attaching civil penalties and criminal liability to those who knowingly or unknowingly aid or abet in the termination of pregnancy, to conferring “personhood” at the time of conception.1
Employers have traditionally relied on the federal laws that govern employer-sponsored health plans, including among others, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), to preempt state laws that attempt to regulate...
In 2025, U.K. insurers found fewer bogus claims than in 2024, but the cases they intercepted tended to involve more money. According to The Independent, insurers stopped 1.34 billion (about $1.77 ...