CONNECTICUT: State Requiring Health Insurers To Cover Gender [sic] Transition.

The Connecticut Insurance Department is directing all health insurance companies operating in the state to provide coverage of mental health counseling, hormone therapy, surgery and other treatments related to a patient’s gender [sic] transition.

Joining a handful of other states, the department issued a bulletin to insurance companies last week which seeks to ensure that “individuals with gender [sic] dysphoria … are not denied access to medically necessary care because of the individual’s gender [sic] identity or gender [sic] expression.” . . .

The insurance department based its position on two state statutes: A 2011 law prohibiting discrimination based on gender [sic] identity and expression, and laws requiring coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders. Gender [sic] dysphoria — also known as gender [sic] identity disorder — is listed in the latest revised edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and qualifies for coverage, the insurance department stated in its bulletin, which was issued Dec. 19.