Tess Gee was quoted regarding the recent church plan oral arguments before the Supreme Court. "Regardless of how the Court rules, this will not be the end of the litigation," Gee said. "The issue of whether the hospitals are a 'principal purpose organization' [PPO] has yet to be briefed. Even if the Court decides in their favor, the hospitals will have to establish that they are a PPO, as their counsel conceded at the argument, to qualify for the church plan exemption. If the respondents/participants prevail, the lower courts will have to determine what it means to bring those plans into ERISA compliance and how to quantify losses. Another significant issue is constitutional standing. If the respondents prevail in arguing that these hospital plans are covered by ERISA, the hospitals are certain to raise the standing issue immediately upon remand."

Ms. Gee's comments were also reported in PlanSponsor on March 27, 2017 in "High Court Hears Oral Arguments in Church Plan Cases."