United States Senator 1700 Montgomery Street Suite 240 San Francisco, California 94111
Dear Senator Boxer:
This letter is in response to your inquiry on behalf of your
constituents, XXX and XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX.
Mr. and Mrs. XXXXXXXXX have complained that their health
care insurance provider, CIGNA, has discontinued coverage for the services of a home health care aide for Mr. XXXXXXXXX. They inquire whether this violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It appears from the correspondence that CIGNA generally does not provide coverage for home health care aides for any policyholders, although they provided such coverage to Mr. XXXXXXXXX for a time just after his coverage was transferred to CIGNA from another company.
The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.
It does not guarantee that persons with disabilities will be able to obtain insurance coverage for all the medical services that they need. Home health care services are presumably needed and used by persons without disabilities as well as persons with different types of disabilities than Mr. XXXXXXXXXXX. An insurance company's decision not to cover home health services in these circumstances would not appear to violate the ADA.
I hope this information will be helpful to you in responding
to your constituents.
Sincerely, Deval L. Patrick Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division