Transgender people who receive Medicare benefits will no longer be automatically denied coverage for sex-reassignment surgery, a federal review board ruled Friday.
The decision means that Medicare, the federal health insurance program for seniors and those with disabilities, will now cover sex-reassignment surgery on a case-by-case basis rather than routinely denying the surgery under guidance adopted during the 1980s.
Although the Department of Health and Human Services appeals-board decision involved a single case—a New Mexico woman who sought gender-reassignment surgery—it could have broad ramifications because private insurance companies and Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor, often follow Medicare's lead on coverage.
The surgery is often the last step in a long process toward gender-reassignment. Some people call themselves transgender even if they haven't had the operation.
"It's pretty clear there's no basis for the arbitrary discriminatory rule they established in the 1980s when they wouldn't cover it," said Mara Keisling, executive director at the National Center for Transgender Equality, an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. "It's not up to bureaucrats anymore. It's up to doctors and patients. It's very important."Read the rest of the story HERE.
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