Health insurance
I currently have a COBRA extension of my dad’s insurance plan, because I aged out of being covered under him. It’s, fortunately, been pretty great coverage (and it should be at ovr $350 a month!) and I haven’t had any trouble with getting transition-related expenses covered.
Unfortunately, my coverage recently changed. Everything’s still covered, I just have higher deductables and copays. Not the end of the world, but obnoxious.
It made me decide to reapply for an individual plan, which has just been a bag of fun…
I applied to New York Life, where I know an agent and figured she might be able to help, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, where I’m currently covered under COBRA.
Both rejected me, citing “medical history.”
This is what always pissed me off about McCain’s claim that allowing the free market to take care of insurance would solve everything. The free market is great for lowering prices and equalizing opportunities, if people are willing to sell you a product. Lower prices and free market forces don’t help a whole lot if everyone says, “Nope. We actually aren’t going to sell you this product for any price. Oh, not because you’re trans, of course. Because of ‘medical history.’ Don’t worry, we’re not descriminating against you, just against an objective set of criteria set up in our system.”
Well, that’s fucking great when COBRA runs out and I’m uninsured.
I contacted Lambda Legal, who basically said, “Yeah, insurance companies usually do that,” which wasn’t horribly helpful. They also pointed me at some lawyers who expressed interest in potential LGBT-related cases, so I may give them a call on Monday. I also contacted the ACLU’s Illinois branch, and so we’ll see. It’s one of those ridiculous things that no one at any of the insurance companies will ever say they’re rejecting me because I’m trans (because Illinois does have some protection for trans people) but they’re also never going to actually offer me insurance.
Grrr. Hopefuly one of these lawyers and/or the ACLU will be interested in helping ‘lil old me. Cuz otherwise, when COBRA runs out, I’m screwed.
Themocracy