NY considers Medicaid for transgender surgery

A woman holds a sign thanking New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo during the 2011 New York City gay pride parade. / Getty Images

ALBANY, N.Y. - A panel advising Gov. Andrew Cuomo on ways to revamp Medicaid has proposed that the program that pays for low-income residents' health care cover surgery and therapy for transgender New Yorkers.

Cuomo earlier this year appointed a task force to overhaul the Medicaid system, which paid $53 billion for medical care in New York last year, and cut costs. A group of health care professionals examining disparities in coverage is expected to decide next week where the transgender proposal fits on its list of priorities.

Advocates say there's limited data on the state's transgender population, but the change could affect thousands of New Yorkers and help cut Medicaid costs for their mental health and drug abuse treatment. California and Minnesota already provide Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery and hormone replacement therapy, which the American Medical Association supports.

"The reason the AMA said this is medically necessary is if the transgendered can't get services they need to live in the gender they are it leads to depression, suicide attempts, substance abuse," said Ross Levi, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, which advocates for gay and transgender rights. The cost would be a tiny part of the Medicaid budget, a fraction of a percent, and overall could provide a net cost savings, he said.

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The proposal says: "Provide Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery/hormone replacement therapy and treatment."

Cuomo will consider task force recommendations in his budget, Health Department spokesman Peter Constantakes said. Legislators, who will vote on next year's spending plan, will also have a say.

Spokesman Josh Vlasto said Thursday the governor's office has not yet reviewed the transgender proposal, and the panels' recommendations have not actually been made yet.

"It doesn't seem to be appropriate," Republican Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon told the New York Post, which first reported the transgender proposal Thursday.

Other issues Cuomo's task force is examining are basic benefits, behavioral health, long-term care, payment overhaul and systems design. Other proposals to address health care disparities include better data collection, ensuring effective contraception for all women of reproductive age, ensuring health care for low-income immigrant adults and covering obesity counseling and diabetes prevention.

Federal funds pay half of New York's Medicaid program, with the state paying 40 percent and localities 10 percent.

The state already pays for hormone treatments for prisoners seeking to change their gender, if the therapy began before they were incarcerated. But the state won't pay for the surgery, said Peter Cutler, spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services.

[musicfreak2909]

You do not know anything about us! Shut your mouth and get researching on what the hell it is like to be one of trans people. It sucks big time that our minds do not match our body and every day we have to be tormented when looking in the mirror! I have already started my therapy and found out that it is something that we are born with. someone who just wants to dress in the opposite sex clothes is not the same! They do not want the organs of that sex just the clothes. we want all of the sex organs and want to be with a man or woman!! You may be an addict of something! You are not born that way YOU made yourself that way. We have not asked for this to happen to us. Christians need to shut up and get over it!!!

[Lilac_Lady]

The picture for the story is degrading. The article is about transsexual surgery. Transgenders never get the surgery. A TS woman is a woman with a birth defect, while a transgender is a queer male pervert who lives as a woman and never gets corrective surgery. The reporter is too stupid to know the difference between TSism and TGism. A man in drag getting spanked at a pervert shame parade has nothing to do with the medical condition of transsexualism. As a transsexual woman, having a gay photo with this story offends me to no end. The reporter needs to be fired.

[tsigili]

That is crazy.

No way a voluntary surgery procedure for appearance, should be covered by Medicaid. The reason seniors are getting short changed, now, for Medicare, is there are too many people using Medicaid frivolously, and most people don't even know the difference, between the two plans. The public thinks seniors are using all of the money, which is NOT true!

That absolutely should NOT pass!

[Lilac_Lady]

This is not a voluntary procedure and has nothing to do with appearance. True-TSsim (not the perversion of transgenderism which the *** drunk reporter confuses with the birth defect of TSism) is a birth defect.