The new state regulation is the latest in a series of provisions enacted by the New York Department of Health in the past two years related to transgender healthcare. Until March, a 1998 state regulation barred Medicaid from covering any transgender-related care, according to the report.
The state health department announced Dec. 6 that medically necessary hormone treatment and surgeries for transgender youths will be covered by Medicaid. The new regulation follows a federal judge’s November ruling in a class-action lawsuit in New York that the state must provide coverage to transgender people under 18. The question that lies at the center of the case — and a national debate more broadly — is whether medical care that changes the body or is classified as cosmetic is medically necessary and should be covered by health insurance.
Advocates for coverage for gender-transition care say medications and surgeries that address gender dysphoria — a feeling of dissonance between one’s gender identity and their biological sex — help transgender people prevent depression and suicidal thoughts, according to the report.
For more information on the lawsuit and the newly expanded coverage for transgender youths, click here.
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