Health Care Reform & Its Impact On Transgender People

[Guest Valerie_LeeAnn]

Health Care Reform and Its Impact on Transgender People

by Mul Kim and Justin Tanis

(Washington, DC, March 23, 2010) President Barack Obama today signed into law an historic bill designed to increase access to health care throughout the United States. NCTE applauds the healthcare reform bill’s passage into law. Through this act, more people, including transgender people, will be able to afford health insurance, be covered by existing plans, and obtain the care they need.

The impact of this legislation will begin this year as insurance companies will be required to cover children with pre-existing conditions, dependent children can remain on their parents’ health insurance until they are 26, lifetime caps on coverage will be lifted and Medicare recipients will find additional help in paying for prescription drugs.

Over the next few years, the healthcare reform law will ensure that millions of people in the United States can afford insurance coverage. The law will also subsidize insurance premiums to make insurance coverage affordable. Additionally, Medicaid will now cover every individual up to age 65 (families with or without children, pregnant women, adults without dependent children) with incomes up to 133% of the federal policy level.

NCTE strongly supports the expansion of coverage that this bill provides as well as the provisions that would decrease discrimination. We are, however, disappointed that some LGBT-specific proposals that were in the original House bill were dropped from the final version. We will continue to work to address the ways in which discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity leads to a disparity of health access in our country. There are, however, positive impacts that this legislation will have on transgender Americans.

What the healthcare reform law will do for transgender people:

Increased access to health insurance: Because of rampant workplace discrimination, transgender people are under- and unemployed at significant rates, with an incidence of poverty at more than twice the national average. The reform law’s provisions that impact low-income Americans will provide new opportunities for many transgender people to access health insurance.

Cannot be denied coverage or dropped: Also importantly, the healthcare reform law would prohibit insurance companies from dropping or denying coverage to individuals or their dependents because of their 1) pre-existing condition, 2) medical condition, 3) claims experience, 4) receipt of healthcare, 5) medical history, 6) genetic information, 7) disability, and 8) any other health-status related factor determined appropriate by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This means that transgender people cannot be dropped or denied coverage by insurance companies because they are transgender or have received transition-related medical care. This is a huge leap forward for the transgender community. However, this provision does not affect insurance companies’ exclusion of transition-related care.

Ban on some forms of discrimination: Additionally, the law also forbids discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sex, age, and disability. If an individual experiences discrimination by a medical provider or organization, (s)he may seek remedies under existing statutes that protect the previously mentioned groups. Even though sexual orientation and gender identity and expression are not included in the anti-discrimination provision, current federal, state, and local anti-discrimination statutes that protect the LGBT community are still in force.

Continued barriers to health care faced by transgender people

Discrimination and distrust: Transgender people suffer from multiple barriers to accessing affordable and quality healthcare, including extraordinarily high rates of discrimination from medical providers and organizations. Lambda Legal conducted a survey which found that 70% of transgender and gender-nonconforming respondents had experience some form of discrimination by medical practitioners. (http://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/when-health-care-isnt-caring/) Because of this discrimination, transgender people mistrust medical professionals and put off necessary preventive care and treatment. This leads to additional complications and deteriorating health, and adds additional costs.

Lack of insurance and denial of coverage: Because of discrimination in the workplace, there is a significant lack of insurance coverage within the transgender community. Even if they do have insurance, transgender people often times cannot access medically necessary care because insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid explicitly exclude transition-related care. Additionally, many insurance companies refuse to cover transgender people at all. Some insurance companies do provide coverage to transgender people but deny claims citing that transition-related treatments can lead to other, unrelated health issues, even when there is no scientifically based link between them.

The Article

[Guest Donna Jean]

So, in a nutshell....this thing is too new to really get a grip on how this piece of legislation will be of help to us Trans people...

I'll probably already have tapped out my life savings for SRS when they announce that they'll cover it....Dang?

Well, at least we're going in the right direction!

Huggs

Donna Jean

[Guest Charlene_Leona]

I'm sorry but you are wrong about Medicare not covering transition related care because all of my transition care has been covered except for laser hair removal and that's because I didn't file it. My SRS is going to be covered because in my case it's medically necessary to keep me mentally stable and alive. My therapist has even declared that my SRS is a medical necessity and I plan on getting a letter from my primary care doctor stating it as well. The health care reform has declared if a procedure is a medical necessity then it will be covered.

Please note that in the last two years medicare has also been paying for SRS in medically necessary cases, so that for any of this to be paid for it has to be a Medical Necessity.

Thank You

Charlene Leona

[Guest Valerie_LeeAnn]

I'm sorry but you are wrong about Medicare not covering transition related care because all of my transition care has been covered except for laser hair removal and that's because I didn't file it. My SRS is going to be covered because in my case it's medically necessary to keep me mentally stable and alive. My therapist has even declared that my SRS is a medical necessity and I plan on getting a letter from my primary care doctor stating it as well. The health care reform has declared if a procedure is a medical necessity then it will be covered.

Please note that in the last two years medicare has also been paying for SRS in medically necessary cases, so that for any of this to be paid for it has to be a Medical Necessity.

Thank You

Charlene Leona

Not my article, I am neither Mul Kim or Justin Tanis. So perhaps these two people are not informed about Medicare not covering Trasition related care? We all might wish to write the website of http://transequality.org/index.html and inform them of such changes. This way none of our Brothers and Sisters are in the dark.

~Valerie

[Guest ChalenAustin]

When is this going into effect again?

What if I start T now?

Will I beable to stay under my parents' insurance and/or willl they not drop me for T after this thing does through.

Sorry if I'm asking what's already been plainly stated.