Presented by Phil Duran, Director of Advocacy & Community Engagement at Rainbow Health
In March 2023, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz issued an executive order directing that several State agencies take steps to protect and/or expand Minnesotans’ access to gender-affirming care, rejecting the approach being embraced in many other states that seeks to restrict access to this care, particularly for minors. This order affected four agencies: Human Rights, Human Services, Health, and Commerce, each of which has the ability to affect the scope of access to such care in Minnesota.
Over the course of several months in spring and summer 2023, the Minnesota Department of Human Services launched a process to review and update its Provider Manual regarding coverage of gender-affirming surgery in State health programs. A critical aspect was to bring the manual into accord with the new WPATH Standards of Care, published in September 2022. After engaging with providers and community members, DHS ultimately made changes to the manual which are likely to eliminate the bulk of barriers within these programs that have interfered with access, including removal of rigid age and hormone requirements. This session will review these changes and identify possible future concerns.
In terms of the Department of Human Rights, MDHR broke new ground by raising the possibility that it has jurisdiction over employer plans, large and small, as well as over the insurers which administer self-insured plans. The session will explore how MDHR arrives at this place in light of ERISA and other requirements, and what future actions might look like.
Finally, in terms of State-regulated plans, Commerce and Health have created a new process for insurers to attest that various aspects of their plans actually comply with State requirements. While untested thus far, this process promises to move the needle forward particularly regarding the medical policies which insurers have in place which have often eluded scrutiny. The Departments have also, for the first time, raised the possibility that insurers’ actions here could constitute deceptive trade practices.
[note: this session will NOT focus on what other states have done, or on the sanctuary laws, which are likely to be covered elsewhere, but if not, we could work in some material on that]
Back to Conference Registration
Phil Duran
Director of Advocacy & Community Engagement at Rainbow Health
Phil Duran graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2000. From 2000 to 2018, he served as the legal director for OutFront Minnesota, and joined the staff at Rainbow Health in 2018, where his work focuses on gender-care access and aging. His Facebook page identifies him as a “professional instigator,” for which no formal certification process yet exists. He was a founding board member of the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association and served as the first out president of the Minnesota State Bar Association (2013–14).