eBar.com – by Zak Szymanski
Recently, an employee of an East Coast LGBT health organization was asked to assist in preparing one of the organization’s trans-related grant proposals. Just weeks before, he said, a male co-worker was denied insurance coverage for a medically necessary procedure that is routinely covered for other subscribers. The reason for the denial was that the man has a transsexual history, and the insurance policy excluded anything that could be construed as related to sexual reassignment ? in this case, a hysterectomy, a procedure often sought by transsexual men for nonfunctioning organs and related pelvic pain, and typically covered for women without question.
The man, who was in dire need of the procedure, eventually had to hire an attorney to help him secure proper care. But the irony of such an exclusion was not lost on the man’s co-workers, whose organization is known for providing healthcare to the transgender community.