New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Issues Guidance to Insurance Carriers to Ensure Nondiscriminatory Health Coverage to Transgender Individuals
Addresses obligation to follow laws against discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression or on the basis that an individual is a transgender person
TRENTON — Department of Banking and Insurance Acting Commissioner Justin Zimmerman today issued a bulletin providing guidance to insurance carriers concerning health coverage for transgender individuals to ensure all New Jersey residents have equal access to health coverage and health care.
The guidance follows Executive Order No. 326 signed by Governor Phil Murphy in April protecting gender-affirming health care in New Jersey.
FDA Finalizes Move to Recommend Individual Risk Assessment to Determine Eligibility for Blood Donations
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized recommendations for assessing blood donor eligibility using a set of individual risk-based questions to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV. These questions will be the same for every donor, regardless of sexual orientation, sex or gender. Blood establishments may now implement these recommendations by revising their donor history questionnaires and procedures.
This updated policy is based on the best available scientific evidence and is in line with policies in place in countries like the United Kingdom and Canada. It will potentially expand the number of people eligible to donate blood, while also maintaining the appropriate safeguards to protect the safety of the blood supply.
New DIFS Bulletin to Protect LGBTQ+ Michiganders from Discrimination in Insurance, Financial Markets
March 17, 2023
(LANSING, MICH) The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) has issued a bulletin that reaffirms the department’s commitment to protecting Michiganders from discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in the insurance or financial services industries. The bulletin ensures that the insurance and financial services industries, including health insurance, must comply with the newly-amended Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act as signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer yesterday afternoon.
