Minnesota to force health insurers to cover so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ starting next year

Health insurance companies in Minnesota will be required to cover so-called gender-affirming care in virtually every health plan starting in 2025, after a law signed by Gov. Tim Walz takes effect, Alpha News reported.

Walz, a Democrat, approved health care bill SF 4097 in May after it passed the Legislature along partisan lines, with every Democrat lawmaker supporting it and every Republican opposed.

Republicans pitched an unsuccessful amendment to the bill that would have limited the mandated gender coverage to adults 21 and older, but the Democrat majority rejected it. 

“This amendment simply says that we are removing the medical procedures from that mandate,” Republican state Rep. Anne Neu Brindley, who filed the amendment, told Alpha News. “There are long-term permanent consequences of these decisions. And this body has acknowledged that kids do not have the brain development to deal with things like smoking, or smoking pot, or drinking alcohol or any number of things. 

“So certainly it should be our job as adults to make sure we are protecting them when we are talking about very real, permanent changes,” she added. 

The new law defines “gender-affirming care” as “all medical, surgical, counseling, or referral services, including telehealth services, that an individual may receive to support and affirm the individual’s gender identity or gender expression and that are legal” in Minnesota. 

Additionally, the law defines “medically necessary care” as services “consistent with generally accepted practice parameters as determined by health care providers.”  

All health plans covering physical and mental health services must cover such care, according to the law. It also mandates health insurance companies cover elective abortions, Alpha News reported, and the blue state even allocated taxpayer dollars to help insurance companies “defray the cost” of adhering to the law. 

Companies and organizations with religious objections to abortion or gender-affirming care can request exemptions from the mandate. To do so, they must submit a formal request to their health insurance company asking the company to exclude abortion and/or so-called gender-affirming care from their plan. The organizations then must inform their employees of this exemption. 

How the new law may impact rising insurance premium costs remains to be seen.