National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse

For more information, click here.

WHAT’S NEW

Hardship Exemption for Women Who Have Experienced Domestic Violence

On March 26, 2014, the IRS issued important guidance to address a problem that had kept women who have experienced domestic violence from being able to access health insurance through the federal Insurance Marketplaces.

Federal rules required legally married women count their husbands’ income when applying for health insurance through the Marketplace–even when the woman was estranged from the spouse, living separately, or had no access to their husband’s income. This mean that women who by themselves would qualify for financial help to buy coverage were unable to get it.

The IRS has now implement policy that says that even if you are still married, you can be eligible for financial help for health insurance if: you live apart from your spouse at the time they file taxes and indicate on their taxes that they are unable to file jointly with their spouse due to domestic abuse. These women have also been given a special enrollment period to get coverage.

At this time, it is unclear what documentation will be needed, if any, to prove domestic violence. HHS will issue clarifications soon.

Click here to view the rules on the Special Enrollment Periods for women who have experienced DV.

RESOURCES

• Affordable Care Act Fact Sheet

• Recommended Preventive Medicine Service Codes: To Record Screening and Brief Counseling of Domestic and Interpersonal Violence

• Resources for IPV Screening and Counseling Coverage Guidelines in the Affordable Care Act

OTHER RESOURCES

• Abuse Research Summary: For archive and to sign up for distribution list, visit http://abuseresearch.info. For questions contact Harise Stein, MD harise@stanford.edu.