Insurance companies in Oregon have been illegally charging patients for STI screenings and other sexual-health services, according to a new report from the state agency that regulates insurers.

The report confirms what Cascade AIDS Project and other advocates have long observed: Insurance companies commonly charge patients co-pays for procedures that Oregon state law requires them to cover at no cost.

For example, state law mandates that insurers fully cover most STI screenings regardless of gender. However, the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) report found that insurance companies have often restricted coverage of STI screenings based on gender, charging men co-pays for chlamydia and gonorrhea screenings (because the federal Affordable Care Act only requires insurers to fully cover these screenings for women).

This practice has created financial barriers for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men to access chlamydia and gonorrhea screening, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends they do at least once a year. Meanwhile, new chlamydia and gonorrhea infections in Oregon have grown exponentially: Gonorrhea infections, for instance, doubled between 2015 and 2020, with men more likely to become infected than women.

In addition to billing patients for STI screenings that should have been free, the DCBS report determined that insurance companies illegally denied coverage of certain contraceptives and failed to inform members that they could use their insurance to obtain condoms, Plan B, and other forms of contraception.

The release of these findings is an important first step in holding insurers accountable. Now, every person who was improperly forced to pay out-of-pocket for sexual healthcare must be reimbursed. If you believe you were inappropriately charged, you can reach out to CAP’s Insurance Assistance team, at insuranceassistance@capnw.org.

For more information, please contact CAP’s Public Policy & Grants Manager, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, at jfrochtzwajg@capnw.org or (503) 278-3852.

About Cascade AIDS Project

CAP is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis. As the oldest and largest community-based HIV services provider in Oregon and southwest Washington, we seek to support and empower all people with or affected by HIV, reduce stigma, and provide the LGBTQ+ community with compassionate healthcare. We do so by helping to ensure the health and well-being of our program participants each year through health, housing, and other social services. When the need for affordable, accessible, and culturally affirming primary care services was identified as a community need, we responded by opening Prism Health in 2017.  More information can be found at www.capnw.org.