President Trump has instilled fear and caution in consumers applying for health insurance. Some consumers are skipping over optional questions that pertain to ethnicity and gender identity fearful their responses may be used against them in the future by the Trump administration. I agree with them.
Optional Demographic Questions on Race and Gender
The Covered California application for affordable health insurance can be stressful for consumers who are naturalized citizens, lawfully present with a green card, or residing in California with a work visa. The Trump administration has created a climate of fear for many residents and their family members based on immigration status. Every day we hear reports of residents, who are lawfully present in the United States, being harassed or abducted and sent to a detention camp.
Consequently, many people do not want to bring unwanted attention to themselves or their families. The optional questions included in the Covered California application, as well as other health insurance applications, are viewed as unnecessary attention. Specifically, Covered California offers optional questions regarding if the individual is of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.
Another question allows the applicant to list their race from choices such as Asian Indian, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Guamanian, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, or Vietnamese.
Sensitive Data Sent to Social Media Sites
Covered California does not share this information with the federal government. However, there have been many reports of Elon Musk’s DOGE team of saboteurs gaining access to highly private information at Social Security, IRS and other agencies. The presumption is that if Musk can break into these databases, why not Covered California. Regardless of the tight controls on Covered California data, many people have become hyper-cautious.
While everyone was looking a Musk, Covered California was sharing data with LinkedIn. As reported by CalMatters on April 28, 2025, Covered California had trackers on their website that sends information to multiple social media companies. The most detailed information on pregnancy, race, and gender identity was sent to LinkedIn. Covered California told CalMatters they have disabled all trackers on their website.
Will LGBTQ Community be Targeted Next by Trump?
Another area of concern are the optional questions on the application relating to sex and gender identity. Covered California allows individuals in the household to identify as transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer. Several countries are now penalizing and discriminating against LGBTQ individuals. Trump is very close with Hungary’s dictator Victor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Both countries are oppressing the LGBTQ communities.
Some countries arrest people who identify as LGBTQ. With Trump being surrounded by fervently religiously advisors who are openly hostile to LGBTQ people, it is suspected that it is only a matter of time that Trump signs and executive order tracking people who identify as LGBTQ. When it is remembered that Nazi Germany sent gay people to concentration camps and given the current animus of the Trump administration toward anyone not straight, white, and Christian, people will pass on optional questions relating to sex and gender identity.
Marketing of Health Insurance
Why does Covered California ask about race and gender? This sort of information is gathered for marketing and health disparity reasons. First, Covered California is a marketing organization. They want to make sure their marketing is reaching and resonating with different communities.
For example, census data tells Covered California that in zip code 95746 the population is comprised of 20 percent of individuals who identify as Martian. However, of the enrollments from the zip code 95746, only 3 percent of the individuals identify as Martian. Within the zip code, 6 percent of the residents have enrolled in Covered California.
In neighboring zip code 95661, the census data shows a similar demographic to 95746 in terms of age, household size, and income. The big difference is that zip code 95661 is only comprised of 5 percent of the individuals identifying as Martian. In addition, 95661 zip code has 12 percent of the population enrolled in Covered California. Less than 1 percent of the enrollments identify as Martian.
It is surmised from the data that the Covered California marketing is not reaching the Martian population. Otherwise, the percentage of Martians enrolling in Covered California plans would more closely mirror the population percentages. Why aren’t Martians enrolling? Is the marketing material in the wrong Martian language? Are the marketing images somehow offensive to Martians? Why aren’t more Martians enrolling in Covered California if they are very similar to other demographic groups in the area?
Reducing Health Disparities based on Demographic Information
This leads to the second reason for gathering demographic data, health disparities. It is widely known that Martian have a predisposition for certain illnesses. Martians have higher rates of a particular disease that is a function of their DNA, just like some populations have higher rates of prostate and breast cancer. Just like those cancers, early screening and detection through visits to a health care professional allows for prevention and treatment. In addition, Martian children eat gobs of candy because every day is Halloween. Health plans include pediatric dental to help address potential dental issues at a young age.
Unfortunately, if Martians don’t have access to health care services because they are not enrolled in a health plan, the disease is not diagnosed in the early stages. The delay of a diagnosis, resulting in treatment of the disease in later stages of the disease with worst outcomes. Taken together, this creates a health disparity. Without the demographic data from the optional questions, health disparities are exacerbated among certain populations.
The importance of marketing and reducing health disparities are relatively trivial when you fear the government may take you away based on your race, sex, or gender identity. Until lawfully present individuals can be assured Trump, Musk, or ICE won’t have access to their demographic data, we’ll probably continue to see people avoiding the optional demographic questions. This will ultimately lead to some communities not getting health care or avoiding health insurance altogether.
YouTube video on the Optional Demographic Questions
