Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney expressed outrage today that the state of Mississippi is one of eight states in the nation, including the District of Columbia, which allows insurance companies to consider domestic abuse as a pre-existing condition with which to deny health-care coverage. The National Women's Law Center reported in April that the state of Arkansas passed a law prohibiting insurance companies to pull coverage for domestic violence survivors, putting a spotlight on the remaining states.
"The truth is we've got eight states in the union that count domestic abuse as a pre-existing condition, and Mississippi is one of them," Chaney told the Jackson Free Press. "I've got to get some of my lawyers to do some research on this, but we have only six mandated (conditions that must be covered) in our state statues, and we have 25 or more optional coverages, but domestic abuse doesn't seem to be one of them."
Chaney said all insurance companies in the state can take advantage of the state's limited coverage mandate, and that he would prefer the state to change its law to force insurance companies to cover victims of domestic abuse.
"Would I do something about it? Hell, yeah, I'd do something about it, but I'm a regulator, not a legislator. I have to come to terms with that every week," Chaney said. "The whole situation is bad. Let's say a woman works with a company that had Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and she gets beat up in her house and Blue Cross says 'we're not covering you because getting beat up is your pre-existing condition.' That's terrible."
Chaney explained that the law has to be changed at the Legislature: "They would have to change the statute to say that spousal abuse is a mandated coverage. We've done it before when we added coverage for mammograms and some other things."
Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, served as chair of the Senate's Insurance Committee before moving to the Finance Committee, where he has served as chairman for two years. Kirby said the state law on the issue surprised him.
"I didn't even know we allowed for them to deny coverage due to domestic abuse," Kirby said. "I wonder how long that's been on the books, because I certainly didn't pass it, and I've been on the committee for 12 years," Kirby said. "I would think that the chairman of the insurance committees in the House and Senate would consider seriously changing that law."
Senate Insurance Chairman Eugene Clarke, R-Hollandale, and House Insurance Chairman Walker Robinson, D-Bolton, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kirby, who is a property and casualty insurance agent, said he did not think a state law change would impact insurance companies significantly.
"I can't see it making a lot of difference in the premium, and I think the legislature should really consider changing it," Kirby said. "I can't imagine there being so much domestic abuse that they would consider exempting it. I think the companies are probably paying for it and don't even realize that it qualifies as a pre-existing condition."
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