SAG-AFTRA Health Plan To Reimburse Travel & Lodging Costs For Participants Who Must Leave Their States To Get Abortions
deadline.comTrustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan have unanimously approved a reimbursement benefit to cover travel and lodging expenses related to abortion care for participants who live or work in states that prohibit abortions. “In taking this decisive action,” the trustees said in a press release Friday, “SAG-AFTRA and management Plan trustees are seeking to ensure participants will continue to have access to safe abortion services regardless of where they live or work.”The new benefit, which comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v.
Wade, is similar to ones being provided by the WGA and DGA health plans. It will reimburse reasonable travel expenses for participants, covered dependent spouses, and covered dependent children who are unable to obtain abortion services without traveling because they reside in a state or temporarily work in covered employment in a state where abortion is illegal.Travel expenses must be primarily for, and essential to, obtaining abortion services covered by the plan that are performed by a licensed medical provider acting within the scope of their license.Covered transportation includes:Covered lodging expenses include:SAG-AFTRA, which is a separate entity from its Health Plan, said in a statement that “as both a union and an employer is committed to the principle that all our members, all our employees, and indeed all Americans should have equal access to critical, necessary and often life-saving reproductive health care, wherever they live or work.”Broadcast networks’ fall lineups and schedulesNew and returning series on broadcast, cable and streamingSeries that made it or didn’t make it in 2021-22
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