The 10 Senators who vetoed insurance protection for domestic violence survivors

We reported yesterday that health insurance companies in a number of states and the District of Columbia are allowed by law to treat domestic violence as a pre-existing condition for which they can deny individual coverage.



The story was met with outrage, but it gets even worse.

The blog of the Service Employees International Union, which is pressing for health insurance reform, reports that in 2006 a Senate committee considered an amendment to the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act that would have required insurers to stop ignoring state laws that make it illegal for them to deny coverage to domestic violence survivors -- and 10 Senators, all Republicans, voted against it. They were:

* Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
* Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
* John Ensign  (R-Nev.)
* Mike Enzi (R-Wy.)
* Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)
* Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)
* Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
* Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
* Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)
* Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)

All of those lawmakers are currently still in the Senate except for Frist, a physician who retired in 2007. In explaining his vote to CQ Today, Sen. Enzi said at the time, "If you have no insurance, it doesn't matter what services are mandated by the state."

Along with D.C., the states that allow insurers to treat domestic violence as a pre-existing condition are Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming. In our story yesterday we incorrectly included Arkansas on this list; in fact, the state passed a law in April prohibiting insurance discrimination against domestic violence survivors.