The following U.S. states prohibit anti-trans discrimination in health insurance and legally require insurance companies to provide transgender health coverage:
Oregon
January 2013 — Oregon removes barriers to transition-related care
- Health insurers may not categorically exclude transgender patients from coverage.
- Health insurers must provide coverage and cannot deny coverage of treatments for transgender policy holders if the same treatments are covered for other policy holders.
- Health insurers may not deny treatment on the basis of a policy holder’s actual or perceived gender. That means that all policy holders can rely on annual exams, cancer screenings, and gender-specific health care, regardless of their gender on file.
- The statewide mandate for coverage of mental health services must apply to transgender patients.
California
April 2013 — California’s Ban on Transgender Exclusions in Health Insurance — FAQ
The DMHC letter directs health plans to remove benefit and coverage exclusions related to gender transition as well as limitations based on gender identity or gender expression. This development should ensure parity in coverage, and significantly increase medically necessary services available to transgender people.
The new Director’s Letter also allows transgender people to access DMHC’s Independent Medical Review (IMR) process if a health plan denies a specific medical service or treatment. Before the Director’s Letter, transition-related care was classified as a coverage exclusion and was ineligible for the independent medical review.
Colorado
March 2013 — What Coloradans Need to Know About the Division of Insurance Recent Bulletin on Health Insurance
The announcement of this bulletin (B-4.49) means that in order to comply with current Colorado statutes prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and transgender status, health insurance plans sold in Colorado can no longer:
- impose higher rates or charge more because of an applicant’s sexual orientation (see definition below);
- use an individual’s sexual orientation as a pre-existing condition for the purpose of limiting or denying coverage; or
- deny, exclude or limit coverage for medically necessary services as determined by an individual’s medical provider, if the same item or service would be provided — based on current standards of care — to another individual without regard to their sexual orientation.
Vermont
April 2013 — Vermont Orders Insurance Companies to End Transgender Exclusions
Vermont’s Division of Insurance, under the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), issued a bulletin effective April 22, that directs insurance companies to end the practice immediately, and explicitly states that all insurance plans submitted for Vermont’s Health Benefit Exchange are also disallowed from using these discriminatory exclusions.
Connecticut
December 2013 — Connecticut Becomes Fifth State to Require Transgender Medical Coverage
The bulletin prohibits a health insurer from implementing blanket policy exclusions for transition-related care. Insurers will still be allowed to evaluate the medical necessity of any given treatment on a case by case basis, much like they’d evaluate any other insurance claim.
Washington D.C.
February 2014 — Mayor Gray Announces Steps to Protect GLBT Community from Discrimination in Health Care
Today, the District of Columbia advanced the rights of the city’s transgender community by prohibiting discrimination in health insurance based on gender identity and expression. Mayor Vincent C. Gray announced the Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking (DISB) is issuing a bulletin to District health insurance companies addressing the application of anti-discrimination provisions in the insurance code, including recognizing gender dysphoria, or gender identity disorder, as a recognized medical condition.
This action follows DISB’s March 15, 2013 bulletin notifying health insurers to remove language that discriminated on the basis of gender identity and expression from their policies and permit those with gender dysphoria to obtain medically necessary benefits. Today’s action goes one step further in protecting this community’s health insurance rights by affirming that gender dysphoria is a recognized medical condition and thereby treatment, including gender reassignment surgeries, is a covered benefit.
Massachusetts
June 2014 — Trans Residents Celebrate Monumental Health Care Ruling in Mass.
Starting this year, both MassHealth and the state’s private insurance companies will begin offering coverage of transition-related care for the state’s transgender residents.
“If [an insurance] carrier refuses to cover medically necessary treatment because the insured failed to conform to the carrier’s idea of how a man or a woman should look or behave, then the insured has been discriminated against based on the individual’s sex,” the guideline reads in part. “Thus, denying medically necessary treatment based on an individual’s gender identity or gender dysphoria is prohibited sex discrimination under Massachusetts law.”
“Therefore, the Division has concluded that excluding coverage for gender identity or gender dysphoria-related treatment will be considered prohibited sex discrimination because it would be a limitation on coverage based on the sex of the insured,” concludes the directive.
Washington
June 2014 — Progress: Washington’s Health Insurance Policies Cannot Discriminate!
Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler made an announcement clarifying that health insurance policies sold in Washington cannot discriminate against transgender Washingtonians. Commissioner Kreidler is “asking all health insurers doing business in Washington state to end discrimination in health insurance based on gender identity and related medical conditions. In a letter sent to health insurers this morning, Kreidler reminded health insurers that exclusions and denials of coverage on the basis of gender identity are against the Washington Law Against Discrimination (RCW 49.60) and the federal Affordable Care Act (Section 1557).”
Illinois
The Illinois Department of Insurance for taking a crucial first step in addressing discrimination against transgender Illinoisans in insurance coverage. The bulletin issued to private insurers in the state notes that many insurance plans sold in Illinois may not discriminate against transgender people and must provide them coverage for the same medical treatment available for non-transgender policy holders. The Bulletin cites current Illinois law and the federal Affordable Care Act, both of which prohibit discrimination by insurers against transgender people because of their gender identity.
New York
December 2014 — Insurers in New York Must Cover Gender Reassignment Surgery, Cuomo Says
In a letter being sent to insurance companies this week, NY Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that because state law requires insurance coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders, people who are found to have a mismatch between their birth sex and their internal sense of gender are entitled to insurance coverage for treatments related to that condition, called gender dysphoria.
Nevada
July 2, 2015 — Nevada Becomes Tenth State to Ban Transgender Health Exclusions
Nevada became the tenth state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to prohibit discriminatory transgender exclusions in state-regulated health insurance plans. The bulletin, which went to all health insurance carriers, prohibits the “denial, exclusion, or limitation of benefits relating to coverage of medically necessary health care services on the basis of sex as it related to gender identity or expression. Accordingly, a carrier may not deny, exclude or limit benefits for medically necessary health care services if the medically necessary health care would be provided at current standards of care to another covered person without regard to their gender identity or expression”.
Delaware
March 28, 2016 – Delaware Becomes 15th State to Ban Trans Health Exclusions
Delaware’s insurance bulletin states that under the Delaware Unfair Trade practices act, insurance plans sold in Delaware may not maintain “any blanket policy exclusion” for transition-related care. Plans also may not “deny, exclude, or otherwise limit coverage for medically necessary services” for gender transition if those services are covered for other medical conditions.
Pennsylvania
May 6, 2016 – Pennsylvania Makes 17 States + D.C. Banning Trans Health Exclusions, Hawaii Likely Next
Pennsylvania’s guidance is based on the state’s longstanding law against unfair insurance practices, as well as federal law and regulations prohibiting gender-based discrimination. It states that in order to comply with these laws, insurance companies have to get rid of categorical exclusions that say that transition-related care is not covered. The guidance also says that insurance companies also can’t refuse to cover a service like surgeries or hormone treatments simply because it’s being used to help someone transition.
Also: Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Rhode Island
Which state will be next? Check back for updates!
Last updated: 04/05/18