Insurance benefits under the ADA: Discrimination or business as usual?

In December 1987, John McGann discovered he had AIDS. In July 1988, his employer altered his health insurance policy by reducing lifetime coverage for AIDS to $5,000, while maintaining the million-dollar limit for all other health conditions. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the employer`s right to make that change. The Supreme Court denied certiori. Public outcry was immediate and voluminous. The Solicitor General argued that the new Americans with Disabilities Act would save future John McGanns from the same treatment, but the validity of this optimistic prediction is yet to be determined. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is landmark legislation that bars discrimination against the disabled in all aspects of employment, public services, and accommodations. The Act broadly defines disability to include illnesses such as AIDS and cancer, as well as limitations on mobility, vision, and hearing. The ADA indisputably creates a private cause of action for discrimination on the basis of disability. However, depending on the standard of review chosen by the federal courts, this cause of action may or may not provide much protection to those claiming discrimination on the basis of disability in employee benefits and insurance. Thismore » article discusses the ADA`s coverage of insurance and benefits in light of the possible standards courts might use to evaluate actions of parties in suits alleging discrimination in these areas and applies those standards of review to the facts of the McGann case. 146 refs.« less