Abortion Services and Employee Benefits: Plan Design Options and Legal Compliance Post Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org

Experienced Legal Compliance supervisory professional with a demonstrated history of work for the public sector, multiemployer plans & the healthcare industry. Skilled in ERISA health and welfare plan advice and counsel and healthcare reform reporting, disclosure, and research.

Sarah Kanter counsels employers and multiemployer trusts in all aspects of their health and welfare plans.
Her experience includes assisting clients in compliance with the various Federal and state laws applicable to health and welfare plans, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), the Public Health Service Act, HIPAA, COBRA, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, FMLA and Medicare.
Sarah assists clients with drafting plan and trust documents, amendments, and SPDs; analyzing employee-benefit issues relating to plan design and funding; analyzing plan administrative, fiduciary and tax issues, including benefit claims and appeals, and income and payroll tax reporting, prohibited transactions, and the complex application of non-discrimination rules; reviewing service provider agreements; and investment-related matters, including ERISA’s impact on alternative investments. She also regularly advises clients regarding handling employee benefit matters in corporate acquisitions and other corporate transactions.
Sarah regularly gives presentations on employee benefits matters to clients and professional organizations. She currently serves as a chapter editor for the BNA Employee Benefits Law treatise, as well as Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Health Law Section’s Cancer Legal Advocacy Group. Sarah has been selected as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine, in the area of employee benefits law, every year since 2017.

Kathryn Bakich is a Senior Vice President in Segal's Washington, DC office with over 20 years of experience in healthcare compliance. She is the firm's National Health Compliance Practice Leader.
Kathryn is one of the country’s leading experts on employer sponsored health coverage. She specializes in providing research and analysis on federal laws and regulations affecting health coverage, including ERISA, Medicare, HIPAA, COBRA, the Newborns’ and Mothers’ Health Protection Act, the Mental Health Parity Act and the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act.
She is a recognized expert on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. She speaks regularly about the law, helps plan sponsors understand its short- and long-term effects on their plans and assists clients with preparing comments on the legislation for submission to regulatory Departments (Treasury, Labor, and Health & Human Services).
Kathryn leads the Segal team responsible for publishing information about new healthcare laws and regulations, and trains internal staff on all legislation and related developments. She and her staff disseminate health compliance information, monitor federal and state laws and regulations, and prepare amendments for health plans and summary plan descriptions based on national models.
Prior to joining Segal, Kathryn was an attorney in private practice representing multiemployer health plans and an appellate administrative law judge.
Kathryn graduated with a BA in Political Science, an MA in Public Policy and a JD from the University of Missouri. She has been admitted to the Bar in the District of Columbia, the United States Supreme Court and multiple federal district and appellate courts.
Kathryn is a member of the Working Committee of the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), the Health Technical Issues Taskforce of the American Benefits Council (ABC) and the American Bar Association (ABA). Kathryn is co-chair of the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Subcommittee on Welfare Plan Regulation. Kathryn was named a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel in 2012. She has served as a member of the Government Liaison Committee of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) since 2010.
Kathryn has published multiple articles about employee health and welfare benefits, including a series of articles discussing HIPAA Administrative Simplification, EDI and Privacy in the Benefits Law Journal. She is a co-author of the Employers’ Guide to HIPAA Privacy Requirements, published by Thompson Publishing Group, and a Senior Editor of Employee Benefits Law. Kathryn speaks regularly on issues related to group health plans.

Gabrielle White helps firms of all sizes, including in the advertising and public relations fields, develop and maintain compliant tax-advantaged executive compensation and employee benefits plans. Using her broad knowledge of applicable tax law and ERISA requirements, she creates incentive compensation arrangements involving contract equity, real equity and long-term arrangements, and leads employee benefits plan design and compliance.

While staying current on legal developments impacting her clients, Gabrielle advises on ERISA compliance and plan design questions, and drafts or revises employment, separation and deferred compensation plans. She guides stakeholders through complex benefits and executive compensation issues that arise in corporate transactions, including golden parachute votes under Section 280G. When compliance concerns arise, she liaises with the IRS and the Department of Labor for a swift resolution.

Gabrielle began her legal career as an associate in the executive compensation group of Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Kirsten advises and represents individuals with various employee benefit and employment matters, including pension and disability claims, medical leaves of absence, and severance negotiation. She also represents clients in multi-plaintiff and class action cases involving employee benefit and employment claims.

Kirsten’s accomplishments include obtaining a landmark decision in 2017 from the California Court of Appeal establishing new law for public employee retiree benefits under the County Employees Retirement Law in Irvin v. Contra Costa County Employees’ Retirement Association, and helping retirees who lost millions of dollars in retirement savings win a $36.8 million judgment in 2014 in Beeson v. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., Inc., following a seven month civil trial in California Superior Court.

Kirsten speaks and writes on a variety of employment benefit and employment matters. She is Chair of the Employee Benefits Committee, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association, and she is Co-Chair of the Employee Benefits Committee, National Employment Lawyers’ Association. She is also Chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Solo and Small Firm Section. She is a past contributing author to Employee Benefits Law (BNA), ERISA Litigation (BNA), and California Wage and Hour: Law and Litigation Practice Guide (CEB).

Prior to joining Renaker Scott LLP, Kirsten was an attorney at a national employee benefits and employment law firm. She also previously served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Charles Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and as a law clerk for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and Legal Aid at Work.