Post by Ayla on Feb 1, 2016 11:07:21 GMT 8
In a landmark decision, the United States Department of Health and Human Services has ruled for the first time that a transgender person is entitled to gender-confirming surgery under Medicare, according to a statement sent to The Advocate by the case’s attorney, Ezra Young.
Young represents Charlene Lauderdale, a retired master sergeant in the Air Force, a purple heart recipient, and a trans woman who has waited years to receive the trans-affirming health care from the Veterans Administration through an HMO called United Healthcare/AARP Medicare Complete. The HMO now has the right to bring suit against HHS in federal trial court to contest the decision within 30 days.
“This decision sends a clear message. No transgender person may be denied surgical benefits simply because of outdated ideas regarding transgender health care,” says Young in the statement, and he emphasizes that, “genital reconstruction surgery is not experimental, and it is not cosmetic. It is life-saving treatment. Ms. Lauderdale, a decorated combat veteran, has shown true courage while patiently waiting years for the healthcare to which she is entitled as a right. Through her persistence, it is our hope that many others will now be able to obtain the health care they have been so long denied. I am only saddened by those for whom this decision has come too late.”
The HHS ruling is particularly affirming for Lauderdale who claimed in a 2014 report from KPRC Houston to have endured pronounced transphobic mistreatment from the VA hospital ..
www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/1/31/hhs-rules-trans-woman-entitled-surgery-under-medicare
Young represents Charlene Lauderdale, a retired master sergeant in the Air Force, a purple heart recipient, and a trans woman who has waited years to receive the trans-affirming health care from the Veterans Administration through an HMO called United Healthcare/AARP Medicare Complete. The HMO now has the right to bring suit against HHS in federal trial court to contest the decision within 30 days.
“This decision sends a clear message. No transgender person may be denied surgical benefits simply because of outdated ideas regarding transgender health care,” says Young in the statement, and he emphasizes that, “genital reconstruction surgery is not experimental, and it is not cosmetic. It is life-saving treatment. Ms. Lauderdale, a decorated combat veteran, has shown true courage while patiently waiting years for the healthcare to which she is entitled as a right. Through her persistence, it is our hope that many others will now be able to obtain the health care they have been so long denied. I am only saddened by those for whom this decision has come too late.”
The HHS ruling is particularly affirming for Lauderdale who claimed in a 2014 report from KPRC Houston to have endured pronounced transphobic mistreatment from the VA hospital ..
www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/1/31/hhs-rules-trans-woman-entitled-surgery-under-medicare