Insurance Issues after Dobbs Part II: Health Insurers and Health Insurance

Summary

This First Analysis article discusses the fundamental impacts that are anticipated on health insurance and health insurers as a result of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., 2022 U.S. LEXIS 3057.That case used a Mississippi statute as the vehicle to overturn the essence of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, and, by implication, Planned Parenthood of Southern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 that came a short time later. The practical effect of Dobbs was to return to each state the power to determine the timing and circumstances under which an abortion could be obtained in that state. Rowe had permitted a virtually unfettered "right" to abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. Casey abandoned Roe's trimester framework and its "strict scrutiny" standard of review of state laws on abortion and replaced it with an "undue burden" test, yet followed the central holding of Roe.