Vermont’s three largest insurance companies will refund customers more than $1.5 million in improperly charged contraceptive coverage.
That’s the result of a two-year audit by the state Department of Financial Regulation.
The agency says Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and MVP Insurance all improperly shifted out-of-pocket costs to Vermonters for vasectomies and prescribed contraceptives, among other things, dating back to 2017.
DFR began its audit in 2021 after receiving complaints and reviewed over 250,000 medical claims, finding 14,000 of them in violation of state and federal law.
Sebastian Arduengo is assistant general counsel for the DFR.
“This is really the first settlement of its kind that we’ve had in Vermont, really the first time we’ve looked at an insurance mandate like contraception to see how these claims are being paid,” says Arduengo.
“In general, the violations were unintentional and really caused by a lack of guidance at the federal level related to contraceptive coverage,” Arduengo says.
Arduengo says contraceptive coverage in Vermont is not subject to co-pays or deductibles, and that all three insurers complied with the audit.
