Illinois’ Medicaid program soon will be covering gender reassignment surgery.
Television station WICS from Springfield, Ill., reports the new coverage rulesare set to begin on Friday.
The proposed changes would have Medicaid cover genital and breast-related surgeries for people that are at least 21-years-old and that have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
“Surgeries that may have been prohibitive for them before are now going to be covered by Medicaid, so it gives transgender individuals an opportunity to opt for those surgeries if that’s something they want to do,” Phoenix Center Executive Director Jonna Cooley told the station.
Cooley said not all transgender people want to get gender affirmation surgery and said the procedures aren’t widely offered by doctors.
According to the state, Medicaid will start covering these procedures sometime this summer after a period of public comment.
What are your thoughts on this? And would you be in favor of Texas becoming the next state to cover these surgeries as a part of our surgery?
