More US companies covering transgender surgery

[Butterfly]

More US companies covering transgender surgery
The Associated Press
21 February, 2011


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gthubjhEvzGucAKr6oyuVId30Aww?docId=a540b0a6258c46aeaa589e11c50aa39e


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When Gina Duncan decided to undergo the medical treatment that would make her a woman, she had plenty to fear. The reactions of her children, her professional colleagues and friends. How her body would respond to hours on the operating table. If, at the end of it, she would look female enough so strangers wouldn't gawk.

What the Orlando mortgage banker didn't have to be anxious about was how she would pay for two of her surgeries. Her employer of 10 years, Wells Fargo, included breast augmentation and genital reconstruction as coverable expenses under its employee health plan. Duncan was told the San Francisco-based bank already had had 16 other employees transition to new genders and assigned a benefits specialist to walk her through the process.

[Sarah Louise]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41705893/ns/business-consumer_news?GT1=43001

Headline on MSN.

More major companies are quietly adding transgender surgery to the employee health plan.

[Elijah3291]

don't read the comments below the article though (ugh!)



how can you know if your insurance covers transgender surgeries?  i don't work, but I am on my dads insurance.

[Sarah Louise]

I didn't see the comments, sorry.  (Actually, I still haven't looked)

[Joelene9]

how can you know if your insurance covers transgender surgeries?  i don't work, but I am on my dads insurance.

It will say in the insurance plan booklet or in any of the addendums to that the company gives it's employees. Look in "What is not covered" section first. Mine always said "Sex change surgery" under the "What is not covered".
  Joelene

[Elijah3291]

my dad is in Texas and i'm sure he has all of the information, all he is sending me is the card, so i'm not sure how to figure out what is covered, its blue cross blue shield, anyone have any experience with them?

[tekla]

BC/BS is like a banquet menu in a Chinese joint, one from column A, two from column B deal.  They write whatever policy the company wants written.

[Shana A]

Want a sex change? Work for Coke: How America's biggest corporations are paying for transgender surgeries

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:06 PM on 22nd February 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359279/Want-sex-change-Work-Coke-How-Americas-biggest-corporations-paying-transgender-surgeries.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

They're among the biggest corporations in the world, largely because they do what it takes to stay competitive.

So when some of Wall Street's biggest names were faced with losing valuable employees, or paying thousands to reassign their genders, it was an easy decision.

Now corporate giants such as Coca Cola, Yahoo!, American Express and AT&T are expanding their insurance coverage to meet the needs of transgender employees.

[Elijah3291]

$75,000? O-o wow, I could get my hysto and top surgery.  I think I should work for the Coke company if they are still doing this once I get out of college, sure its not a dream job but I could keep it for a bit!

Or maybe, by the time I start looking for a career other companies will have joined in.

[LordKAT]

If you want to know what is covered under any bc/bs plan, you can call them  or go on line and fidn out. You need to have the plan number and the id number for either. If you go online it is more detailed but it takes a day or two since they do e mail verification and also check to see if your plan is current and that you are a currently eligible person under the plan before allowing you access.

[tekla]

$75,000? O-o wow, I could get my hysto and top surgery. I think I should work for the Coke company...

Where are you going to college?  A MBA from Wharton after you finish Harvard?  Most companies offer lots of different insurance policies depending on what job they are hiring you for.  Was this about a janitor, or entry-level position, no, it's about an assistant vice president.   And at 52 years old the person in the article had been paying into that insurance for 25-30 more or less.  No one is going to give you benefits worth more than they are paying you, or more than they can recoup from you.

[Epigania]

Ugh ... The spew in the comments for that article are saddening.

You know, I'm convinced that if the internet was around in the 60's we'd still have segregation in the US.  It's made it way too easy for ignorant and uneducated people to make their opinions sound like the mainstream of society.

[Michelle.]

Or maybe the counter-protesters of the civil rights movement would have stayed home...

[xAndrewx]

Awesome! I just read this and thought to look up my employer. I just found out that if I get full time I can get insurance (probably an expensive plan but oh well) that will cover my top surgery, a hysterectomy, and a meta! Suddenly my job seems worth so much more.... That was in 2006 though, I wonder if that is still the case. Oddly enough it said they don't cover testosterone for transguys though. The cheapest thing of all isn't covered, kinda odd