After Lawsuit, Major Insurance Co. Agrees to Cover PrEP Users

Facing investigations and lawsuits, Mutual of Omaha has agreed to stop denying insurance to Massachusetts residents who use the HIV prevention medication Truvada, commonly used as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis).

The Massachusetts attorney general was investigating the denials and the group GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) had filed a lawsuit against the insurer before the underwriting change was made. Previously, Mutual of Omaha denied life and long-term care insurance to Truvada users.

"Multiple studies have long shown that Truvada is an incredibly effective way to prevent the transmission of HIV and it is standard to offer it to gay men and others at high risk of infection," Kenneth H. Mayer, M.D., medical research director for Boston's Fenway Institute, said in a press release. "Mutual of Omaha's categorical exclusion of Truvada users from life and long-term care insurance was irrational and based on a gross misunderstanding of how HIV gets transmitted."

The Massachusetts attorney general's office confirms Mutual of Omaha "has revised its underwriting practices to ensure that it does not deny, rate, or otherwise take any adverse action against any Massachusetts resident who applies for any type of accident, life, sickness, or health insurance with Mutual of Omaha, including long-term care insurance, based on the applicant's use of Truvada for PrEP."