Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 36
New Yorkers could soon get questionnaires from their health insurers asking for their race, ethnicity, gender, preferred language and sexual orientation as part of a state initiative that seeks to address disparities in health care.
State officials are proposing a new rule Tuesday that would require health insurance plans to collect demographic details as they sign people up for insurance or renew their coverage, although the information would be optional for New Yorkers.
The goal of collecting this data is to make it easier for insurers to identify the needs of the different communities they serve and address any gaps in access to care, according to Adrienne Harris, superintendent of the state Department of Financial Services, which regulates New York’s private health plans.
Harris also acknowledged that such information could be misused and is including language in the draft regulations that aims to safeguard against insurance discrimination and various types of data sharing.
Health plans could also use the data to proactively beef up services to meet the needs of their members, said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives at the Community Service Society of New York.
The draft regulations emphasize that plans will still be subject to existing state laws that ban them from using protected characteristics such as race, national origin, gender, sexuality or marital status to set insurance rates or engage in other types of discrimination.
The proposal also includes provisions prohibiting insurers from selling the data that’s collected or using it for marketing purposes, even if the information is de-identified.
The state Health Plan Association, which represents insurers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposed rule. The draft regulations will be subject to a 70-day public comment period, after which they could undergo revisions before being finalized.
Source: Gothamist
