More Obamacare insurers in Louisiana reject AIDS patients

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) – The only three insurance companies in Louisiana that sell healthcare policies under President Barack Obama's healthcare law throughout the state are rejecting payments from a federal program intended to help low-income HIV patients, advocacy groups said on Thursday. The Louisiana Health Cooperative and Vantage Health Plan, two smaller insurers, made the move following a decision by the state's largest insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, late last year to reject the payments. Lambda Legal, a non-profit group, filed a civil rights complaint about the two smaller carriers' action with the Obama administration on Thursday, following a similar complaint about Louisiana Blue last week. "Additional carriers are jumping on the discrimination bandwagon," said Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation for Lambda Legal, which works to protect the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV.