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Transgender residents in D.C. will no longer be subjected to discrimination in benefits from their healthcare insurance providers.
At a press conference today, Mayor Vince Gray said the city has ordered health insurance companies that the D.C. government regulates to stop denying coverage for gender-reassignment surgery. Under a new bulletin issued by the Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking, these health insurance providers — including Medicaid and plans sold on D.C.’s health exchange — are now required to recognize gender dysphoria—sometimes known as gender identity disorder—as a medical condition, and cover proper treatments, including gender-reassignment surgery.
“Last March, the District began the process of removing exclusions in health insurance on the basis of gender identity or expression. Through the hard work of my Office of GLBT Affairs and a multi-agency working group lead by my Chief of Staff, Chris Murphy, we have today taken the necessary steps to completely eliminate these exclusions,” Gray said in a statement. “Today, the District takes a major step towards leveling the playing field for individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria. These residents should not have to pay exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses for medically necessary treatment when those without gender dysphoria do not. Today’s actions bring us closer to being One City that values and protects the health of all of our residents.”
According to DISB’s bulletin, “attempts by companies to limit or deny medically necessary treatments for gender dysphoria, including gender reassignment surgeries, to be discriminatory.” Today’s bulletin comes after one last March requiring healthcare insurers to remove gender discriminatory language and expression from their policies, as well as a bill passed by the D.C. Council in July protecting identities of transgender people.
Under the DISB’s new bulletin, people diagnosed with gender dysphoria are “entitled to receive medically necessary benefits and services under individual and group health insurance policies covering medical and hospital expenses.”
“This victory reaffirms growing agreement among advocates and the medical community that D.C.’s healthcare nondiscrimination laws require that insurance cover medically necessary transgender healthcare,” Andy Bowen, a policy associate at the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a statement. “Critically important is that as more states follow the District’s lead, we’ll be better able to educate the medical community about respectfully and comprehensively meeting our healthcare needs. And that sets us up for more wins like this in other states,” she added.
But this new policy isn’t just a massive step forward for D.C.’s LGBT residents, it also sets an unprecedented example for the rest of the country. “This policy will make D.C.’s healthcare programs and insurance coverage the most comprehensive in the country for the full scope of health care that transgender people need throughout their lives,” Andrew Cray, policy analyst at the Center for American Progress’ LGBT Research and Communications Project, said in a release. “But more importantly, this announcement tells transgender people in the District that their health matters.”
