§432:1-607.3 Nondiscrimination on the basis of actual gender identity or perceived gender identity; coverage for services. (a) No individual and group hospital and medical service policy, contract, plan, or agreement that provides health care coverage shall discriminate with respect to participation and coverage under the policy, contract, plan, or agreement against any person on the basis of actual gender identity or perceived gender identity.

(b) Discrimination under this section includes the following:

(1) Denying, canceling, limiting, or refusing to issue or renew an insurance policy, contract, plan, or agreement on the basis of a person's or the person's family member's actual gender identity or perceived gender identity;

(2) Demanding or requiring a payment or premium that is based on a person's or the person's family member's actual gender identity or perceived gender identity;

(3) Designating a person's or the person's family member's actual gender identity or perceived gender identity as a preexisting condition to deny, cancel, or limit coverage; and

(4) Denying, canceling, or limiting coverage for services on the basis of actual gender identity or perceived gender identity including but not limited to the following:

(A) Health care services related to gender transition; provided that there is coverage under the policy, contract, plan, or agreement for the services when the services are not related to gender transition; and

(B) Health care services that are ordinarily or exclusively available to individuals of one sex.

(c) The medical necessity of any treatment shall be determined pursuant to the insurance policy, contract, plan, or agreement and shall be defined in a manner that is consistent with other covered services.

(d) Any coverage provided shall be subject to copayment, deductible, and coinsurance provisions of an individual and group hospital and medical service policy, contract, plan, or agreement that are no less favorable than the copayment, deductible, and coinsurance provisions for substantially all other medical services covered by the policy, contract, plan, or agreement.

(e) As used in this section unless the context requires otherwise:

"Actual gender identity" means a person's internal sense of being male, female, a gender different from the gender assigned at birth, a transgender person, or neither male nor female.

"Gender transition" means the process of a person changing the person's outward appearance or sex characteristics to accord with the person's actual gender identity.

"Perceived gender identity" means an observer's impression of another person's actual gender identity or the observer's own impression that the person is male, female, a gender different from the gender assigned at birth, a transgender person, or neither male nor female.

"Transgender person" means a person who has gender identity disorder or gender dysphoria, has received health care services related to gender transition, adopts the appearance or behavior of the opposite sex, or otherwise identifies as a gender different from the gender assigned to that person at birth. [L 2016, c 135, §3; am L 2019, c 70, §29]

Note

Applicability of section. L 2016, c 135, §§5, 7.