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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services office, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, stands in Woodlawn, Maryland, U.S. Photo: Jay Mallin/Bloomberg

Life Health > Health Insurance

HealthCare.gov to Update Gender Question

By Allison Bell

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is changing the way that HealthCare.gov asks health insurance shoppers about their gender identity and sexual orientation.

CMS officials recently told agents and brokers in a webinar that the health coverage enrollment and administration system will keep its current question about the applicant’s sex and add three questions.

What it means: HealthCare.gov managers are responding to the preferences of the growing number of Americans who no longer identify as male or female.

HealthCare.gov: The Affordable Care Act set up a “Travelocity for health insurance” in 2014.

For 2024 coverage, 20 states will run their own state-based exchange programs. HealthCare.gov will provide 2024 ACA exchange services in 31 states. It now serves about 12 million of the 16 million people with exchange plan coverage.

The ACA open enrollment period is set to begin Nov. 1 in most states and end Jan. 15.

The questions: HealthCare.gov will continue to require applicants to classify themselves as male or female, CMS officials told producers.

Starting Nov. 1, the system will also ask applicants optional questions about their sex assigned at birth, their gender identity and their sexual orientation.

Many private insurers and state-based ACA exchange programs have also started to move beyond relying solely on requests for users to identify as male or female.

Covered California, California’s state-based exchange, has been giving applicants the option of identifying as non-binary since 2017.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offices in Woodlawn, Maryland. Credit: Jay Mallin/Bloomberg

Allison Bell

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