The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 18 decision upholding Tennessee’s restrictions on gender-affirming health care for youth may impact employers’ benefits offerings. Some employers may explore providing travel benefits to enable plan participants to access types of health care prohibited by state law.
“This ruling could well reinforce many employers’ decisions to offer travel benefits for covered transgender care services,” said Tim Stanton, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Chicago.
In a ruling by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., the Supreme Court found that Tennessee had a rational basis for banning certain medical treatments for transgender people under the age of 18 when those treatments are prescribed for the purpose of enabling an individual to 1) live consistently with their gender identity or 2) treat gender dysphoria — a feeling of distress or discomfort that occurs when a person’s gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth.
The Supreme Court noted that in enacting Tennessee’s law, Senate Bill 1, the state “determined that administering puberty blockers or hormones to a minor to treat gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, or gender incongruence can lead to the minor becoming irreversibly sterile, having increased risk of disease and illness or suffering from adverse and sometimes fatal psychological consequences.”
The court also said Tennessee found that it was “likely that not all harmful effects associated with these types of...
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