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GayCityNews.com | APRIL 21 - May 4, 2022
Gay Couple Accuses City of Discrimination for Rejecting IVF
Health insurer allegedly bars gay men from receiving the same services as others
BY MATT TRACY
A gay couple is taking legal action
against the City of New
York after they said they
faced discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation when their
city-based health insurance plan rejected
their bid to have a child through
in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Corey Briskin and Nicholas Maggipinto,
who met in law school more than a
decade ago and were married in 2016,
sought IVF services through Briskin’s
city-based health insurance when he
was working for the Manhattan district
attorney’s office. When they attempted
to receive IVF services, however, they
learned that the coverage was not applied
evenly to gay men.
“We intended to take care of the process
through IVF and we learned our
insurance plan would not cover the
benefits for us because we didn’t satisfy
the definition of infertility,” Briskin
told Gay City News.
The couple’s health insurance plan
stipulated that IVF would only be
covered for those unable to conceive
after 12 months of “unprotected intercourse,”
and women without a male
partner would be considered infertile
if they are unsuccessful after attempting
a dozen cycles of intrauterine insemination.
That would allow straight
couples or lesbians to become eligible,
but not gay men.
Briskin and Maggipinto repeatedly encountered
roadblocks in their attempts
to resolve the issue, prompting them to
file a class-action discrimination complaint
with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Corey Briskin and Nicholas Maggipinto have been fighting for their right to receive IVF services.
Commission (EEOC).
“We are frankly surprised that nobody
has brought this issue to the fore before
us,” Maggipinto said. “The only reason
we can think of is nobody has been able
to navigate the system or has had the
wherewithal or resources, feared retaliation,
or didn’t want publicity.
Briskin and Maggipinto, both
equipped with a background in law,
understood that anti-discrimination
laws in New York — and the Bostock v.
Clayton County Supreme Court ruling
in 2020 — should have prevented such
barriers to coverage. Moreover, such
hurdles seemed inconsistent with efforts
at the state level to make it easier for LGBTQ
families to have children, including
the legalization of gestational surrogacy
as well as a 2021 directive by the New
York State Department of Financial Services
telling insurers to “provide immediate
coverage... for the diagnosis and
treatment of infertility (‘basic infertility
treatments’) for individuals who are unable
to conceive due to their sexual orientation
or gender identity...”
The couple’s complaint outlines
their unsuccessful efforts to receive
coverage under the plan. In June of
last year, Briskin reached out to the
city’s Office of Labor Relations seeking
coverage for IVF services, but the
office told the couple they were not
eligible and subsequently denied their
request. The following month, Briskin
said he reached out to the New York
City Corporation Counsel to complain
Sarah Merians
about the rejection and to ask if the
policy could be changed to align with
anti-discrimination laws, but the couple
was denied yet again.
“We think this case is simple,” the
couple’s attorney, Peter Romer-Friedman,
said in a phone call with Gay City
News. “We’re pretty shocked that the
City of New York, when we approached
them, refused to change the policy.”
During a joint interview with Gay
City News, Briskin and Maggipinto
made a point to say that they would be
unable to afford the out-of-pocket costs
to pursue IVF services.
While the couple hopes the complaint
will help them build a family,
they are pursuing a class action approach
because they want other gay
couples in similar situations to benefit
from any potential positive outcome.
“We’re very encouraged by the number
of people who we know and don’t
know who have expressed their support
for the cause,” Maggipinto said.
When asked about the policy, the
Adams administration vowed to take a
look at the complaint and denied that
the city’s health coverage discriminates
against queer couples.
“The Adams administration proudly
supports the rights of LGBTQ+ New
Yorkers to access the health care they
need,” a City Hall spokesperson said in
a written statement.
As for their message for the city,
Maggipinto was succinct: “The city
knows what it needs to do.”
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