Health insurance offered through Obamacare must cover same-sex married couples the same as they would opposite-sex married couples starting in 2015, the Obama administration announced Friday.
“If an insurance company offers coverage to opposite-sex spouses, it cannot choose to deny that coverage to same-sex spouses,” Matt Heintz, director for provider and LGBT outreach at the Department of Health and Human Services, wrote in a blog post.
“In other words, insurance companies will not be permitted to discriminate against married same-sex couples when offering coverage. This will further enhance access to health care for all Americans, including those with same-sex spouses.”
The new requirement applies to all legally married same-sex couples, regardless of where they live, Heintz wrote.
The move follows others taken by the administration to broaden benefits to same-sex married couples in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Attorney General Eric Holder announced last month that the federal government would recognize legal same-sex marriages regardless of the couple’s current residence.
