Soon, Taxpayers May Be Forced to Foot Bills for Gender Reassignment Surgeries

12 Apr, 2017 by Cassy Fiano

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The transgender acceptance movement is growing stronger and stronger, and accordingly, the LGBT lobby is becoming more and more emboldened. No longer is it acceptable for people to just be allowed to mutilate themselves if they so choose; no, now taxpayers evidently have to pay for it too.

Two employees at the University of Wisconsin have filed a lawsuit against the university, along with its board of regents and its insurers because they were refused gender reassignment surgeries. The ACLU is helping both employees with their lawsuit, in which they claim they are being discriminated against.

Shannon Andrews is a research assistant at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Alina Boyden is a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Both were born male, but believe they are female. Andrews paid for his gender reassignment surgery himself, out of his own pocket, and tried to get reimbursed by his insurer. That request was denied.

“Many people can relate to paying into an insurance plan only to be told that the treatment they need is not covered,” Andrews said in a statement. “But when the reason you are denied coverage is because of who you are, it is even more painful. And it’s clearly discrimination.”

Boyden has not undergone gender reassignment surgery, because he knows it will be denied.

“As a result of (state policies), plaintiffs’ health insurance plans single out transgender employees for unequal treatment by categorically depriving them of all medical care for gender dysphoria, a serious medical condition codified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and International Classification of Diseases,” the lawsuit claims.

For their part, state officials did consider allowing taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgery. But in the end, they felt it was not reasonable. “We believe the policy adopted by the (state) is a reasonable measure that protects taxpayers from funding sex changes for state employees and complies with both state and federal law,” Tom Evenson, a spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker, said.

Do you think taxpayers should be forced to pay for gender reassignment surgery?