A reader writes:
A big thank you for posting about the issue of trans surgery insurance coverage and the medical need for it. My younger sister is trans (MTF), and like a lot of trans folk of her generation, was able to come out (relatively) young – 21 – and what a difference that makes! Several of the transgender people in my church waited until retirement, or late middle age, and they would be the first to say how hard it is to accommodate oneself to living in a different body, both physical and hormonal, after years of passing as the gender that one really isn’t. My sister has been lucky in her insurance coverage through her job as a first responder. She gets great coverage for the hormones she must take for the rest of her life. However, her surgery (facial surgery and breast augmentation) were not covered; she paid for them out of savings and from a small inheritance. Using her savings for this definitely set her back for a time – she otherwise might have extended her education, or bought a home, as I did with my inheritance. Still, it was the best thing she ever did. She is so easy in her body, so softly feminine, just lovely. She’s also engaged to be married now – if only we can get Prop 8 overturned here in California and DOMA on the federal level, so they can be legally married. (Ironically, they probably could be married legally in Texas, which doesn’t recognize her gender change.)
Another notes that all uninsured transgender residents of San Francisco get coverage. Another asks, “So a new vagina is covered, but Lasik isn’t?”
The Dish 