Benefits Plan Design and Administration in a Post Dobbs World

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A central purpose of ERISA is to enable uniform plan administration of employee benefit plans without having to comply with a patchwork of potentially inconsistent state laws. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion. Despite having nothing to say nothing about employee benefit plans, the decision has had a broad and worrisome impact on group health plans that cover, seek to cover, or seek to facilitate interstate travel to obtain, abortions. More recently, similar Constitutional issues have surfaced in the context plan coverage of gender affirming care for adolescents. In each case, the role of state law, and its impact on plan design and administration, looms large. 

This program will explore the legacy of Dobbs and the anticipated coming wave of Constitution challenges on the design and maintenance of group health plans and other benefit plans, programs, and arrangements. Particular attention will be paid to possible criminal sanctions against plan fiduciaries, and the steps that fiduciaries and others responsible to plan administration might take in response.

 

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