How Obamacare Will Affect Trans Folks and Families
We asked the Transgender Law Center whether new health care regulations help, hurt. or ignore trans people and their families.
BY Alex J Davidson
November 01 2013 4:00 AM ET
http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2013/11/01/how-obamacare-will-affect-trans-folks-and-familiesAfter I wrote recently about how Obamacare will affect LGBT people and their families, I received a number of comments asking about how new health care regulations will specifically affect the trans community. I turned to Anand Kalra, Project Health program manager at the Transgender Law Center in Oakland, Calif., to get answers.
The Advocate: Will Obamacare make things better for trans folks? Specifically how?
Anand Kalra: Yes. First, the Affordable Care Act opens the door to coverage for a group of people that have been held outside. The ACA makes it illegal for an insurance company to refuse to sell an insurance plan to someone because they have "pre-existing conditions." Historically, health insurance companies have considered gender identity disorder, the psychiatric diagnosis used to enable access to transition-related care, such as hormone replacement therapy, a pre-existing condition. So, if anywhere in your medical record you had been diagnosed with GID, an insurance company could use that against you, and refuse to insure you. Starting on January 1, 2014, that practice is prohibited for any diagnosis, including gender identity disorder.
Second, the ACA provides options in care for vulnerable populations. In states that are adopting the Medicaid expansion, low-income single adults without qualifying disabilities will now be eligible for Medicaid programs; additionally, the Medicaid program's income limits have been raised. So a person making up to 138% the federal poverty level (about $15,800 for individuals, $32,000 for a family of four), will be able to have coverage.
