Overview
Sarah G. Raaii devotes her practice to issues impacting group health and welfare benefit plans by counseling employers, digital health and point solution clients, plan administrators, insurers, consultants and other health plan service providers.
Sarah advises her clients on healthcare reform issues; consumer-driven health benefits; self-funded and fully insured health plans; data privacy and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); wellness programs; cafeteria plans; and regulatory, sub-regulatory and legal compliance. She provides guidance on the Affordable Care Act (ACA); the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); health plan transparency; mental health parity; the No Surprises Act; the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA); flexible benefit plans; health reimbursement accounts (HRAs); health savings accounts (HSAs); plan network design; multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWAs); association health plans; captive insurance arrangements; and other health benefits issues.
Sarah drafts and negotiates complex agreements between employers, health plans, third-party administrators, pharmacy benefit managers, carriers, consultants and other health plan service providers. She also counsels digital health, telehealth and point solution entities; third-party administrators; pharmacy benefit managers; and other benefit administrators on partnering with employers, group health plans and insurers. As co-chair of the Firm’s Post-Roe Working Group – a multidisciplinary team of lawyers providing clients with reproductive health guidance – Sarah has advised hundreds of health plans and benefit administrators on health benefits following the end of Roe v. Wade.
Additionally, Sarah routinely analyzes frequently changing health benefits laws and regulations and recommends risk mitigation strategies. She provides strategic due diligence and health benefits design, implementation and transition advice on issues arising from corporate and private equity mergers, acquisitions and other transactions.
Sarah frequently publishes and presents on health benefits trends and developments and has been quoted on health plan issues in prominent media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law and Law360.
Prior to joining McDermott, Sarah worked at the White House for the National Economic Council, where she implemented the ACA with leaders from the Executive Office of the President, the US Department of Labor, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of the Treasury. She previously collaborated with in-house lawyers and federal and state government relations professionals in the leadership development program of a Fortune 500 global insurance and financial services corporation.
Results
- Advised Aon plc on health benefits compliance in its $13.4 billion purchase of NFP Corp.
- Counseled pharmacy benefits manager Prime Therapeutics in its $1.35 billion acquisition of Magellan Rx Management
- Represented an employer-sponsored health company regarding health benefits regulatory issues and harmonization in a merger that created one of the nation’s leading providers of advanced primary care and occupational health services for employers
- Drafted employee benefit plan documents to transition benefits in connection with a $6 billion corporate acquisition
- Advised on employee benefits due diligence and disclosures for a $1.8 billion health system transaction
- Assisted a large Fortune 150 corporation in transitioning its medical benefit platform to a private healthcare exchange
Recognitions
- The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, Chicago, 2023 and 2024
Community
- Chicago Committee for Minorities in Large Law Firms, associate board
- Chicago Bar Association, Employee Benefits Committee, former chair
- American Bar Association, Employee Benefits Committee of the Section of Taxation
- McDermott Will & Emery, Award for Outstanding Achievement and Commitment to Pro Bono and Volunteer Service, 2017
Credentials
Education
University of Iowa College of Law, JD, with distinction, 2015
University of Iowa, BBA, with high distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, 2010
University of Iowa, BS, with high distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, 2010
Admissions
Illinois
Languages
English
Farsi
Spanish
