California Cracks Down on STI Screening Limits

June 27

Amid what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is calling an “epidemic” of sexually transmitted infections (STI), the California Department of Insurance issued a mandate to a portion of health insurers operating in the state that would ban medically unnecessary limits on test screenings.

On June 1, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced that his office would crack down on insurers that are “arbitrarily refusing to cover necessary treatments,” according to a press release. The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) forbids health insurers from limiting STI screenings for people at elevated risk of infection and does California state law, giving Lara’s department wide latitude for enforcement.