Joanne Herman
Posted: January 4, 2011 08:46 AM
More Employers To Cover Transgender Surgery, But New Hurdles Expected
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-herman/transgender-surgery-with-_b_803495.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=1044946,b=facebookOne year from now, more employers than ever before will cover transgender surgery as part of their health insurance plan. While this is much-needed progress for transgender people, implementation issues will unfortunately create new hurdles to living in one's true gender.
The coverage is a requirement in the 2012 Corporate Equality Index. An employer must contract for the coverage by June of this year and coverage must be effective January 1, 2012 in order to score 100 percent on the 2012 CEI.
This change will impact all transgender people even though many do not need or want surgery. That's because insurance company exclusions of transgender surgery, and in some cases any transgender care, have tended to make medical care providers regard anything transgender-related as frivolous.
