D.C. Moves To Protect Transgender Residents from Insurance Discrimination

The District's Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) has issued a bulletin prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression by insurance companies who underwrite health-insurance policies in D.C. The March 15 bulletin clarifies 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 of an individual based on gender identity or expression, among other characteristics. Under the clarification, private insurance companies that underwrite coverage for individual or group plans will have 90 days – meaning a deadline of June 15 – to file revised policies with DISB that eliminate any discriminatory language barring certain services to transgender individuals, explains Amy Loudermilk, deputy director of the Mayor's Office of GLBT Affairs.