A transgender state employee in Alaska is suing the state for denying her health care benefits, thereby forcing her to pay out-of-pocket expenses for medically necessary surgery.
Alaska’s current health insurance plan for state employees prohibits coverage for the same surgical procedures used in transition-related surgery that would otherwise be covered had the patient been cisgender instead of transgender.
Jennifer Fletcher, a 36-year old Juneau resident who works as a state legislative librarian, was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2014. Consulting with her doctors, Fletcher started hormone therapy and was advised to pursue gender confirmation surgery as well.
Because AlaskaCare has contained a blanket exclusion on transition-related surgery since 1979, Fletcher was denied coverage for the surgery and had to pay out of pocket. Beginning in 2018, AlaskaCare began covering hormone therapy for transgender employees, recognizing it as medically necessary, but continues to deny requests for surgical-related expenses.
Fletcher subsequently enlisted the help of Lambda Legal and sued the state.
“Jennifer Fletcher was denied coverage for medically necessary treatment specifically because she is transgender,” Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Peter Renn said in a statement. “This is unlawful and stigmatizing discrimination that jeopardizes the health of hardworking state employees. The state employee health care program — AlaskaCare — covers medically necessary treatment for all state employees except transgender employees. That’s textbook discrimination by any standard.”
In its lawsuit, Lambda Legal argues that the State of Alaska is violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits sex discrimination. In March 2018, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that there was reasonable cause to believe the State of Alaska violated Title VII when it refused to cover Fletcher’s medical expenses.
“All that I am asking is that the State of Alaska stop discriminating against people like myself,” Fletcher said in a statement. “My coworkers are able to receive coverage for their care, but coverage for transition-related care is denied. This sends a clear message that the State does not value me, and does not consider me equal to its other employees, by forcing me to pay out of pocket for my medically necessary care. How is this not discriminatory, when equivalent care is routinely provided to other state employees?”
Most mainstream medical associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, recognize that transition-related surgical treatments are often considered medically necessary for transgender people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. As such, they have called for an end to discriminatory exclusions like those in AlaskaCare.
“Whether your insurance will cover medically necessary treatment should not depend on who you are,” Lambda Legal Counsel Tara Borelli said in a statement. “The State itself recognizes that transition-related care is medically necessary, which is why it covers hormone therapy. The only reason for this lingering blanket exclusion against surgical treatment is irrational discrimination.”
A new report published by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law finds that an estimated 2.8 million Americans aged 13 or older identify as transgender.
According to NBC News, that figure represents about 1% of the U.S. population within that age group. The breakdown is nearly even: 34.2% identify as transgender men, 32.7% as transgender women, and 33.1% as nonbinary.
One statistic drew particular attention on social media: younger Americans are far more likely to identify as transgender than older generations. About 3.3% of those ages 13-17 identify as transgender, compared to just 0.3% of those 65 and older.
Social conservatives are claiming vindication for their views after Robin Westman, the 23-year-old behind the August 27 mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, was identified as transgender by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in an X post.
Armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, Westman fired dozens of rounds into the church during a morning Mass attended by students from the affiliated Annunciation Catholic School, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said, as reported by The Associated Press.
For the second time, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from University of Wyoming sorority members who challenged the admission of a transgender woman, arguing that she did not meet the definition of the word "woman."
"Having considered the issues presented (again), we find that the majority of the claims must be dismissed on the grounds that this Court still may not interfere with the sorority's contractually valid interpretation of its own bylaws," U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson wrote in his ruling.
The case began in 2023, when six members of the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter sued the sorority for admitting Artemis Langford, a transgender woman, and allowing her to use the campus house’s common areas -- though not live there -- according to Wyoming Public Media.
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