April 29, 2024
The Fourth Circuit on Monday affirmed two lower court decisions ordering North Carolina and West Virginia to end discriminatory exclusions for coverage of gender-affirming medical care for transgender people in both states, finding the lower courts properly struck down the policies as "textbook sex discrimination."
September 21, 2023
North Carolina and West Virginia defended their health care funding bans on treatments for gender dysphoria Thursday, arguing before the full Fourth Circuit that the prohibitions don't discriminate against transgender people because the laws prohibit everyone on government plans from receiving certain treatments.
September 20, 2023
The full Fourth Circuit will hear arguments Thursday from state-run health plans in North Carolina and West Virginia challenging lower court decisions finding that their coverage exclusions for gender dysphoria treatments amount to unlawful discrimination, weighing in on two cases that experts say could impact employee benefit plans nationwide. Here's what to watch as the states and health plan participants square off before the Fourth Circuit.
September 15, 2023
The Fourth Circuit's case lineup for the rest of September will see the court delving into transgender health care bans in North Carolina and West Virginia, debating the constitutionality of Maryland's digital advertisement tax and wrestling with an arbitration clause in an accounting firm merger contract.
September 01, 2023
In September, federal appeals courts have set oral arguments on several important employee benefits disputes from workers claiming violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and a D.C. Circuit panel will be asked to determine whether Rite Aid violated labor law when changing union retirees' health benefits.
May 26, 2023
Missouri and 20 other Republican-led states urged the Fourth Circuit to undo a pair of district court decisions requiring state health plans in North Carolina and West Virginia to cover gender-affirming care, arguing states should be allowed to make decisions about the relatively new area of medicine.
April 14, 2023
The Fourth Circuit's recent decision to take the initiative to rehear two challenges to benefits plan coverage exclusions for gender-affirming care was an uncommon move that reflects the high stakes of the two cases, attorneys say.
January 25, 2023
A Fourth Circuit panel on Wednesday seemed skeptical of a North Carolina state health plan's efforts to reverse an order blocking it from refusing to cover treatments related to gender dysphoria and gender transition, appearing inclined to back the decision finding that the exclusion was discriminatory.
January 02, 2023
A possible circuit split is among the key things to watch in 2023 as more district courts take contrary positions on whether the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County extends to the Affordable Care Act's nondiscrimination protections to transgender health care coverage. Here, Law360 looks at seven cases dealing with nondiscrimination provisions under the ACA and transgender health care coverage that benefits attorneys should keep their eyes on.
July 13, 2022
The Fourth Circuit consolidated two appeals filed by North Carolina officials and a state employee health plan that both seek to undo a lower court injunction blocking the state plan's exclusion on treatments related to gender dysphoria and gender transition based on a holding that it was discriminatory.