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PapayaJuice t1_j3a30wz wrote

I think there’s some confusion here when it comes to health insurance and being trans, which makes sense because navigating health care while trans is absolutely mind boggling. I’ve went through hell the last year navigating it myself, but I learned a lot.

Health insurance companies by law are required to cover treatments that are medically necessary which, if your doctor follows WPATH, is generally considered to be HRT at the bare minimum with sex reassignment surgery also being a commonly accepted necessary surgery. Having a blanket statement stating no services for treating gender dysphoria will be covered is illegal on the grounds of gender discrimination(often coincides with sex-based discrimination), flat out.

Now, how that works with Health Plans essentially being a processing plant, I’m not entirely sure. I would assume the company would take the role as the insuring party, but it seems complicated and a I can see why it would seem like a grey area when it comes to holding them to the same standards. I would be interested to see how this plays out.

I would also like to point out that cosmetic surgery is not always considered elective, at least in the way some commenters are saying. With many more procedures being deemed as medically necessary for transgender individuals, some on a case-by-case, many procedures such as laser hair removal, tracheal shaves, and some forms of FFS are falling under the umbrella. It’s the opinion of WPATH and much of the medical community that these are as elective as a facial burn victim getting reconstructive skin grafts are. People like to minimize this because its a weird middle ground between mental and physical issues, but these surgeries are often life-saving and have massive rates of improving the condition of the patient overall.

TLDR: this shit is complicated and we all know health insurance will always try to fuck you.

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