 PRESS RELEASE: Monday, March 18,
2013
CONTACT: Michael
Flagg (DISB) 202.442.7756; michael.flagg@dc.gov
Sterling
Washington (GLBT Affairs) 202.727.9493; sterling.washington@dc.gov
Department
of Insurance, Securities and Banking and the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs
Announce Prohibition on Discrimination in Health Insurance on the Basis of
Gender Identity or Expression
(WASHINGTON,
D.C.) – On Friday, March 15th, the Department of Insurance,
Securities, and Banking (DISB) issued a bulletin that prohibits discrimination
based on gender identity or expression by insurance companies writing health
insurance in the District of Columbia. The bulletin clarifies the
District Official Code § 31-2231.11(c), the District’s Unfair Insurance Trade Practices
Act, which makes it illegal to refuse to insure, refuse to continue insuring,
or limit the insurance coverage to an individual on the basis of gender
identity or expression and a host of other areas. The DISB bulletin makes
clear that discriminatory language barring certain services to transgender
individuals is not enforceable. Furthermore, health insurance companies
with this type of discriminatory language in their policy have 90 days from the
issuance of the bulletin to update their policy forms.
In
practical terms, this means that health insurance policies and the practices of
health insurance companies covering individuals or groups in the District
cannot refuse health coverage to individuals who are transgender. Prior
to this new directive being issued, numerous health insurance companies
operating in the District had explicit policies that excluded transgender women
and men from many of the same services that they provided to their
non-transgender patients. Some of the services denied to transgender
individuals, but approved for other patients included: mastectomies for breast
cancer; hormone replacement therapy; and high blood pressure medications
Last
month, the Mayor’s Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT)
Affairs informed DISB of discriminatory language in the policies of several
health insurance providers (including CareFirst, the District government’s own
Essential Health Benefit) and the two offices collaborated to redress this
issue quickly. With the issuance of this directive, the District becomes
one of the first places to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and
expression in health care and insurance. Only California and Oregon offer
similar protections.
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