Do Your Company’s Reproductive Health Benefits Protect Your Most Vulnerable Co-Workers?
3 Questions About Access to Reproductive Health Care Services
Flory Wilson, founder & CEO of Gender IDEAL, wrote the following for B the Change:
In the days following the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health that reversed the constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, there was a flurry of media coverage on corporate declarations about travel reimbursement benefits for employees seeking out-of-state reproductive health and abortion care. What these statements largely excluded were details on how many workers at these companies qualify for reproductive benefits and how accessible they are.
As we settle into a post-Roe world, we need to start pressing employers like Certified B Corporations to be transparent about these details. Vulnerable workers — the lowest-paid, hourly employees who tend to be People of Color — are at greatest risk of not having access to these benefits. They are also the population most in need of access to these benefits. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 75% of abortion-seekers live below the federal poverty level; the second most common form of payment for abortion is Medicaid, yet Medicaid does not cover abortion services in 34 states, pushing these women to pay out-of-pocket for services.
How can you be an advocate for your company’s vulnerable employees? If your company has issued a travel reimbursement policy, ask these questions:
Can all employees and their immediate family members, regardless of status (part-time, full-time, hourly and salaried), access these benefits?
Is there a mechanism to get immediate cash into the hands of my colleagues who may not have savings to cover the upfront costs of travel or reproductive health care?
Can I access these benefits without telling my boss or HR/People department?
Keep reading to learn what you should look for in response to these questions.
Who has access to benefits?
Many companies intend to cover travel reimbursement through a health insurance plan or health reimbursement agreement (HRA), which means the benefit is only accessible to employees on a benefits plan. In addition to having IRS-imposed limits on reimbursable amounts, this approach usually excludes employees who are part-time, non-salaried workers or have opted out of the benefits plan for any other reason. Only 62% of workers are on their companies’ health plan (many cite the expense as a barrier to accessing company benefits).
The workaround? Employers can add a corporate travel reimbursement policy that would cover workers not enrolled in a health benefits plan and allow for reimbursement for approved medical travel. (Note: A drawback to this approach is that will likely be considered a non-tax-exempt expense, making this a more expensive benefit from the employer’s perspective.)
It’s also important that these benefits are administered by a third-party administrator (TPA) so that employees aren’t asked to share personal health information with their HR team or colleagues. Employers should work with their TPA to ensure they have clarity on how to process these reimbursements while protecting the privacy of employees in accordance with HIPAA data protection. (Another non-tax-exempt way to ensure all employees have access to the benefit is through emergency funds — and an added bonus is that funds can be distributed quickly. More on this below.)
How do benefits help employees who do not have savings to cover out-of-pocket expenses?
Six in 10 Americans do not have savings of $500 and 30% of Americans don’t have a credit card. An abortion can cost from $400 to $1,200, not including the additional travel costs many people will incur.
The workaround? Businesses can support their employees and immediate family members by establishing emergency relief funds so employees can quickly access needed money. Canary is one platform that is working with several clients to set up these emergency funds. Gordon Kirchner, Canary’s Head of Sales, says these funds range from general purpose health and wellness funds to more narrowly focused reproductive health funds. “We’re hearing from many employers who want to support their workers and want to use different approaches in providing timely financial assistance,” he says. “We’re able to flexibly structure emergency fund accounts that ensure rapid payment and employee data confidentiality for any medical-related services.”
How can I access benefits without telling my boss or HR/People team?
Many companies issued a statement about supporting reproductive health with the guidance to “email Human Resources for more information.” Anecdotal data shows that requiring employees to reach out to a company’s HR department has a chilling effect on seeking access to these benefits — no one wants to tell their co-workers that they or a loved one needs an abortion. Lower-paid and part-time workers feel especially uncertain broaching this topic out of fear of retribution.
The workaround? Eliminate the concern with clear third-party communication channels. Before any new benefits are announced, HR/Benefits teams should coordinate with TPAs to establish guidance on how benefits will be accessed. An employee should never need to engage with their HR department on reproductive health matters. Instead, these benefits should be administered by a neutral third party that will keep data HIPAA compliant, safe, and confidential. This is important to protect employees and employers from potential legal risk of seeking, aiding, and abetting abortion care as certain states seek laws to criminalize these actions. Employers should clearly communicate how employees contact their TPAs directly to access these benefits.