Wisconsin has restored coverage for gender confirmation surgery for the state’s transgender employees.
The state’s Group Insurance Board voted 5-4 on Wednesday to cover transition-related treatments for people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The surgeries will start being covered starting Jan. 1, reports the Associated Press.
“What we’re talking about is the improved health and well-being of our members for no cost,” board member Herschel Day, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, said. Day added that providing the coverage shouldn’t impact premiums.
The board had previously approved coverage for gender confirmation surgery in 2016, but rescinded its decision in 2017 after receiving political pressure from Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a longtime opponent of LGBTQ rights.
Last year, a state consultant claimed that providing the coverage or other transition-related treatments would cost about $100,000 to $250,000 annually, assuming that two to five individuals were to pursue the surgery.
According to the AP, UnitedHealthcare, which is starting a Medicare Advantage program for state workers and retirees, agreed with the decision to cover the surgery. The company told the board that the state’s refusal to cover such procedures would cause the company to be out of compliance with federal Medicare rules.
Last year, the state was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin on behalf of two transgender employees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who complained after they were denied coverage for surgical costs, even though their doctors had confirmed that the surgery was considered medically necessary.
One of the plaintiffs, Alina Boyden, was forced to forego gender confirmation surgery, while the second, Shannon Andrews, was forced to pay $21,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. Both women claimed that the denial of coverage violated their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and under several other federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on sex.
Last month, a federal judge ruled, in a case brought by two other state residents, that Wisconsin also can’t ban Medicaid funds from being used to pay for gender confirmation surgery.
On April 2, Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill seeking to ban transgender student-athletes from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
"I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to codifying discrimination into state statute," Evers wrote in a lengthy veto message explaining his rationale for blocking the bill.
The bill had been overwhelmingly approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature last month.
Under the bill, Wisconsin public and private schools would be required to classify students based on their assigned sex at birth, which would be the only factor determining eligibility for participation in interscholastic, intramural, or club sports.
Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a bill into law prohibiting Medicaid and state employee health plans from covering the cost of gender-affirming medications and procedures for low-income transgender adults and minors.
House Bill 668 declares that public funds "shall not reimburse or provide coverage for any surgical operation or medical intervention...for purposes of altering the appearance of an individual in order to affirm the individual's perception of the individual's sex in a way that is inconsistent with the individual's biological sex."
The bill contains exemptions for certain types of surgical operations or medical interventions, such as those deemed medically necessary; those meant to force intersex people or those with "a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development" to conform to binary bodily stereotypes; and those used to help a person "de-transition" or to treat an "infection, injury, disease or disorder that has been caused or exacerbated by" gender-affirming surgery.
Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost is appealing a judge's decision to block the state from enforcing its ban on gender-affirming care for minors and a ban prohibiting transgender athletes from competing on female-designated sports teams.
Yost filed an emergency motion with the Ohio Supreme Court asking it to overturn a temporary restraining order issued by Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook, which blocked the law's provisions from taking effect for two weeks.
Holbrook, a Republican appointee, found that two transgender minors and their parents, who sued to challenge the law in court last month, were likely to suffer "immediate" harm, in the form of reduced access to health care providers willing to treat their gender dysphoria, if the law -- which imposes penalties on doctors who prescribe gender-affirming treatments -- were to take effect.
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