(WA) Insurance regulator Kreidler wants health policies to stop excluding treatments for transgender

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/06/25/3261305/insurance-regulator-kreidlder.html?sp=/99/296/



Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler

Insurance regulator Kreidler wants health policies to stop excluding treatments for transgender people
By Brad Shannon
Staff writer
June 25, 2014

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler sent a letter to Washington health insurers Wednesday urging them to cover medical services needed by transgender people. In a news release, he said that insurers covering medically necessary services cannot deny those services based on a patient’s gender status or identity.

The independently elected commissioner indicated that future regulations could be drawn up if insurers do not comply. The letter addresses transition services for transgender people that are availaeble to others - such as hormone therapy, counseling, mastectomies, breast augmentation and breast reconstruction.

“Transgender people are entitled to the same access to health care as everyone else,” Kreidler said in the release. “Whether specific services are considered medically necessary should be up to the provider to decide on behalf of their patient.”

The move follows efforts by the state Health Care Authority to ensure coverage for transgender state employees needing treatments by 2016. Medicare also acted last month to end a practice of automatically denying coverage of gender reassignment surgery and other services, and HCA is also reviewing requirements in the Medicaid program it manages for those who are poor. Kreidler said that decisions to deny coverage based on gender identity alone violate the state’s 2006 non-discrimination law as well as the federal Affordable Care Act.