Under the Skin: The Next Fight for Transgender Insurance Equality

[Olivia P]

By PARKER MARIE MOLLOY
JUNE 12, 2014

CHICAGO — TRANSGENDER Americans scored a major victory for equality last month, when the Department of Health and Human Services overturned a decades-old ban on Medicare coverage for gender-confirming surgeries.

But the decision is hardly a final triumph. Though thousands of people will now receive insurance coverage, many, many more will continue to be denied because of state-level restrictions on coverage. Indeed, only five states and the District of Columbia require that private insurance companies cover transition-specific care. Pushing the other 45 states to extend coverage is the next front in the struggle for insurance equality for transgender individuals.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/13/opinion/the-next-fight-for-transgender-insurance-equality.html