                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PROHIBITED DISCRIMINATION BASED ON GENDER IDENTITY OR STATUS AS A TRANSGENDER
INDIVIDUAL (§ 38.2-3449.1)

A. As used in this section:
			&#8220;Gender identity&#8221; means an individual&#8217;s internal sense of
gender, which may be male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female
and which may be different from an individual&#8217;s sex assigned at birth.
			&#8220;Medically necessary transition-related care&#8221; means any medical
treatment prescribed by a licensed physician for treatment of gender dysphoria
and includes (i) outpatient psychotherapy and mental health services for gender
dysphoria and associated co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses; (ii) continuous
hormone replacement therapy; (iii) outpatient laboratory testing to monitor
continuous hormone therapy; and (iv) gender reassignment surgeries.
			&#8220;Transgender individual&#8221; means an individual whose gender
identity is different from the sex assigned to that individual at birth.

B. A health carrier offering a health benefit plan providing individual or group
health insurance coverage shall:

   1. Provide coverage under the health benefit plan without discrimination on
   the basis of gender identity or status as a transgender individual; and

   2. Treat covered individuals consistent with their gender identity.

C. A health carrier offering a health benefit plan providing individual or group
health insurance coverage shall not deny or limit coverage or impose additional
cost sharing or other limitations or restrictions on coverage, under a health
benefit plan for health care services that are ordinarily or exclusively
available to covered individuals of one sex, to a transgender individual on the
basis of the fact that the individual&#8217;s sex assigned at birth, gender
identity, or gender otherwise recorded is different from the one to which such
health services are ordinarily or exclusively available.

D. An individual shall not be subjected to discrimination under a health benefit
plan on the basis of gender identity or being a transgender individual,
including by being denied coverage of medically necessary transition-related
care.

E. Nothing in this section is intended to determine, or restrict a health
carrier from determining, whether a particular health care service is medically
necessary or otherwise meets applicable coverage requirements in any individual
case.

F. A health carrier shall not require any individual, as a condition of
enrollment or continued enrollment under a health benefit plan, to pay a premium
or contribution that is greater than such premium or contribution for a
similarly situated covered person enrolled in the plan on the basis of the
covered person&#8217;s gender identity or being a transgender individual.

G. Health carriers shall assess medical necessity according to nondiscriminatory
criteria that are consistent with current medical standards.

HISTORY: 2020, c. 844.