D.C. Insurance Dept. Denies Birth Control Coverage Meddling

The blog RH Reality Check posted an item yesterday alleging that Gennet Purcell, the District of Columbia's relatively new insurance commissioner, had surreptitiously conspired to make it possible for D.C. women to lose their birth control coverage. But the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, the agency Purcell runs, has since emphatically denied the story.

Here's what RH Reality Check reporter Amie Newman wrote on Thursday:

Under Purcell's watch, private insurance companies operating in Washington DC are now allowed to opt out of covering contraception in individual plans. This coverage is considered "non-mandatory" by the insurance commissioner and some women are finding their birth control coverage suddenly dropped.

A petition has been started, on twitter, to raise awareness and grab the commissioner's attention that allowing insurance coverage of birth control to become non-mandatory for those not in a group plan is unacceptable. You can sign here.

The City Paper's Sexist blog also picked up the story, and as a woman who currently pays for my own individual, non-group health insurance plan, you can bet this author was personally very concerned. But DISB spokesperson Michelle Phipps-Evans assures DCist this is "just an untrue story."

Here's the full statement from Phipps-Evans:

"The Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) has not made any changes in its position regarding contraceptive coverage in individual health insurance under Commissioner Gennet Purcell or prior to Commissioner Purcell's appointment.

In fact, mandated coverages for insurance are not at the discretion of the insurance commissioner, but rather mandated coverages are those that are required by D.C. law. Contraceptive coverage is not now, nor has it ever been, a mandated coverage in D.C. DISB has researched its recent consumer complaint history and found no complaints about individual health insurance not covering contraception. It is surveying insurance companies writing individual health insurance in the District of Columbia and, while responses are still coming in, has found that there are individual plans available in D.C. that provide contraceptive coverage."

This individually insured District woman can tell you that the Carefirst Blue Cross individual HMO plan definitely covers birth control pills, and has for the last five years without interruption. Care to crowd source on other individual plans?