Portland, Ore., Mayor Sam Adams has stood up for transgender city employees, claiming that city insurance should cover sex change operation. As stated by Adams, it is only right that community health insurance cover the treatment. The Portland Area Council is expected to vote on Adams’ proposition as early as June.
’Fair, common sense,’ Adams thinks
Mayor Adams told The Oregonian newspaper the transgender medical operation bill amounts to “fair, common sense.” The previous year, the committee decided that gender change surgery charges should not be covered in the Portland self-insurance fund, which would be overridden if the legislation makes it. Since the committee could not decide for sure to change the city policy, the denial occurred.
According to Adams’ estimates, transgender operation benefits for Portland city employees would cost around $32,000 per year. There would be about a .08 percent increase in the self-insurance plan budget for the area.
Anything ‘medically necessary’ is covered
The American Medical Association made a decision in 2008. It decided that transgender health care is “medically necessary.” Under the AMA resolution, withholding coverage for procedure of gender identity disorder when such treatment has been prescribed by a physician isn’t allowed.
“As Mayor, it is important to me that we attract and retain the best and brightest employees to the City of Portland,” writes Adams in a press statement. “Covering basic, medically-necessary care is a matter of fairness, and it’s the right thing to do.”
Picking an insurance
Currently, the Community of Portland provides two health insurance opportunities to its employees: insurance through Kaiser or a self-insurance plan called CityCore. If Adams’ proposal is approved, CityCore would cover the gender change operation, bringing the city’s plan in line with that of 22 percent of Fortune 100 Companies and many Oregon businesses that already cover such a medical operation.
It all started in San Francisco
Transgender operation benefits became covered in 2001 in San Francisco. This made it the first U.S. community to do so. Sex change operations and hormone treatments were available to area employees after a bill was passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and then-Mayor Willie Brown.
At that time, male-to-female operation cost $37,000, while the reverse cost $77,000. The San Francisco ordinance capped fees at $50,000 per person for life, requiring the patient to pay 15 percent if the surgeon is on the city health plan.
Sam Adams at a rally for same-sex marriage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BMPgHIrjKA
Citations
Basic Rights Oregon
basicrights.org/
OregonLive.com
blog.oregonlive.com/portlandcityhall/2011/05/mayor_sam_adams_to_push_sex-ch.html
Portland Online
portlandonline.com/mayor/?a=350579&c=49278
SF Gate
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/02/16/MN202072.DTL
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