Irma Marquez
Rachel Schmitt
Commenters: Katie C, Marlene K, Meghan L, Leigh Ann M, Jaime O, Kyle R, Ashley B
Should Insurance Companies be Required to Cover Services Related to being Transsexual or Transgender?
Most transgender people who have health insurance cannot get coverage for any services that are related to being transsexual or transgender. Almost every public and private health insurance program has exclusionary language such as: “All procedures related to being transgender are not covered.” This coverage exception has been labeled the “transgender exclusion.” This means that very few transgender people can get any transition-related procedures, hormones, or therapy paid for through their health insurance and must instead pay for any treatments out-of-pocket. Even with a well-paying job, these costs are often prohibitive. As a result, many transgender people cannot obtain treatments because they cannot afford to pay for them. This can result in severe emotional turmoil, depression, and even suicide. To avoid this, some transgender people will resort to the black market to get their hormones or even attempt doing surgery themselves (such as cutting off their genitalia) – resulting in serious harm and sometimes death.