The State of Alaska has settled with a trio of people with gender dysphoria who are Medicaid clients and who demanded the government pay for their appearance-transforming treatments, such as hormone therapy and removal of genitals, to help them feel and appear more like the opposite gender.
The settlement is seen as a victory for the Lambda Legal and the Northern Justice Project, which reached a settlement in the class action lawsuit that began in March of 2019.
“Transition-related health care is essential health care, full stop,” said Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Carl Charles in a statement. “Our clients are delighted that the State of Alaska, at long last, recognized that fact. Our clients and other transgender Alaskans will no longer endure the physical, mental, and stigmatizing harm caused by exclusions in the state Medicaid program. This is a significant step toward ensuring the health and safety of all transgender Alaskans, at a time when access to health care is more important than ever.”
The State of Alaska agreed to strike the categorical denial of Medicaid coverage for “treatment, therapy, surgery, or other procedures related to gender reassignment,” and for “transsexual surgical procedures or secondary consequences,” from the state Medicaid plan, which is paid for by taxpayers in Alaska and across the country. Lambda Legal and the Northern Justice Project said the exclusion of these elective procedures violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
New regulations have been published by the State of Alaska as part of the settlement of the case known as Being et al. v. Crum et al. The case was named after a person in Homer named Swan Being, who also was awarded $60,000 in damages. The expected increase to the Medicaid budget in Alaska is estimated to be $28 thousand (updated number) a year.
Settlement documents are at this link:
Gender dysphoria is a little understood mental disorder that has no specific cure. Treatments being used right now include hormone therapy that may be feminizing hormone or masculinizing hormone therapy. Increasingly, surgery, that creates or removes breasts or chest fat, creates or removes external and internal genitalia, or alters facial features, and body contours, similar to plastic surgery.
According to one study, about 1 percent of people who underwent these gender reassignment surgeries ended up regretting their decisions, with about one-half percent having major regrets. The study is here. According to the scientists, that is an acceptable level of regret.
Can I get Medicaid to pay a plastic surgeon do cosmetic work on me when things get kind of saggy Hahahaha
Me too! Maybe we can get a two for one deal! ???
This is pure disgusting bull. Give me a break.
Alaska already has a place, and a budget, for gender dysphoria. It’s called API.
Yep! It is beyond tragic these poor people cannot get the real help they need. Their angst will never go away with surgery and now they will enjoy a host of health issues that likely will hugely diminish their quality and length of life.
Their biggest health issue is their mental illness.
So this is a plea for improved mental illness funding, or what?…
Sad that the working public has to pay for this !!
Sad that the working public has to support the most expensive military in the world.
And we wonder why it’s so difficult to keep the PFD going. Special people need the money for special things more than you or I
And what do you need the PFD for, pray tell? Medical care?
Spare change for pot. At least that’s what my silent Democrat friends tell me.
The state nor the us goverment should be paying for elective surgery
They want a gender surgical pay for it yourself
Amen
If you have these problems than you not the taxpayer should fund this period. I don’t care what your businees is you can be or do whatever you want but do not push your agenda on me. Science is a settled manner you either have XX or XY chromosome not in between.
Thank Walker and his special interests democrat backers.
Just another example of the Dept of Law increasing the Medicaid budget at a time when the legislators say they can’t afford to pay scholarships to ALaska students who don’t have a mental disorder. They just worked hard to earn the scholarships and believed the State government when they promised to pay them. Ooh well a higher need has just been authorized. Since the State agreed in Court the legislature has to fund it first. Maybe that’s why they haven’t sent the Mental Health Budget to the Governor to sign as of last week. Just another hostage by the majority leadership. The people who would normally get help from the PCE fund to help keep themselves warm this winter but not by this legislature. They could use the Statutory PFD to help with the high costs, but again the legislators claiming the State has no money to pay a full PFD will only give them $525. I hope no one freezes because they can’t afford heat while the money is used to pay for these mental health surgeries to make others feel warm and fuzzy and good about who themselves. What’s $28 million that the State must pay from money that only exists in the Permanent Fund. Once LAMBADA tells all the other confused mental health victims ALaska is paying their costs, a flood of new residents will flock to Alaska to get in on free medical and the PFD if it hasn’t all been spent. Just another example of making Alaska a Heaven for free loaders from all over the world. I bet not many States pay this medical cost. Obama briefly made the military health care system pay for the costs for this after he allowed them to join the military. Trump stopped it when he was elect, but Biden reinstated it. Obama tried to get the VA to pay these very expensive medical costs but withdrew attempt after a fire storm of veterans and Congress said no. But don’t fear Big Deep Pockets Biden directed the VA last week to cover the costs and more for all gender confused veterans. Wouldn’t be cheaper to by a full length mirror for them to look in and have the mental health people explain what they see. They will probably get a 100% disability for their mental illness when after we pay their medical costs to change. The VA will pay their medical costs because they need drugs and care for the rest of their life. Again another example of government giving to one group when they can’t take care of the patients that they have that served in Peace and War for their Country.
The VA does not pay for the sex change surgeries.. but they do pay for the health care leading up to it.
Well I want some age defying plastic surgery as I seriously identify as a younger person and should not be called a senior when I feel 35. ????. Boy there are a lot of precedents here. The stupidity is astounding.
Why are we paying to enable delusion?
This is unbelievably asinine! All those who had a hand in this travesty need to be committed to an insane asylum IMMEDIATELY! The government (our tax dollars) should NEVER be used for this type of elective surgery! If it will pay for this, then I want it to pay for dental implants…which would actually be useful and help my health.
If we eliminate Medicaid everyone will be equally excluded. Problem solved
Jim S: My sentiments exactly!
FYI … I know a Dude at Chitna who’s an expert “Filet SME” (subject matter expert) that can / could perform the procedure at a fraction of the cost of a formal Dr, saving the State of AK a ton of cabbage ($$$). Obviously, his schedule – priority is during the summer in Chitna filleting fish but, he’s available for this new gig from September thru May. His new personal cell number is … 907-Kut-Junk.
???
Circumcising is genital mutilation also, but Americans have become desensitized to the Semitic practice. Will we become desensitized to this as well?
No, it still hurts.
Yeah, I am still bitter about it. I couldn’t walk for a year afterward.
9 months is the norm, Scott.
Sounds about right, taxpayers fixing the mistakes that God made.
And there are certainly a lot of those!
Just look around. Would an all-knowing and all-seeing and God come come up with a scenario like this? Perhaps, if he/she were diabolical.
Once the legalization of homosexual marriage, by unelected people was made the law of the land, Pandora s box was opened.
Seriously should we be surprised that the perversion has moved to a new high? Changing ones sex but having others pay for it, how convenient. This is not new, the SOA medical plan for employees has been covering these changes for a couple of years.
Men/ boys competing in women/girls Sports. Not agreeing with this makes one a Bigot,Homophobic. Biden made this proclamation as one of his first dictatorial acts. Noncompliance, then you risk the loss of Federal funding.
Me any more you know I just cannot keep up with ever changing homosexual movement. LGBTQLMNOP+. Insider info, they are adding a numeric designation, just wait on the edge of your seat.
To make things easier and to be ALL INCLUSIVE, I just refer to the ABC groups as the Non Straights, NS. Simple and covers it all. This does away with ever changing Narcissism of self identity.
You can’t change your sex.
This is cosmetic surgery and treatments to defeat the body’s actual state.
In the meantime, most folks can’t afford to get necessary dental work done because it’s considered non-essential and cosmetic until it’s cancer or something similarly dire.
Well Said.
I look at it from a political strategist’s perspective as well. If you’re part of the democratic communist party (Priority one: A Quasi-command heavily planner lead economy as in USSR and other failed societies) you must create co-dependent people who need the government to live the life they want. You have a voter for life. Making more CODEPENDANT trans people is an excellent tool for direct votes and using them as influence. Embrace communism or you hate these people we have created.
Keep a cool head, understand the socialists are in the business or creating and selling misery. They always have they always will. If we can aid people to be independent, solve their own problems (many gov. created), restore hope in themselves, we can win.
This is a game of chess not arm wrestling.
Medicaid is a socialist program where people who have earned their way in life are forced by the government to pay for people who have not earned their way.
One of the most important responsibilities that we put on government is the protection of our property yet here they are taking property from those who’ve earned it to give to those who haven’t earned it.
There should be no such thing as Medicaid…it’s just socialist welfare.
Just like Medicare and Social Security.
Haha. Thats a pretty funny (and hysterical) take on the new medicaid allowances. Is this a right wing Onion?
You know, all of these woke and broke-d*ck people are starting to get on my nerves. State government money is not for repairing body parts on the mentally ill. What’s next? Government money to remove tatoos, nipple ring holes, and genital jewelry?
We are now in the sicko zone.
This is why I don’t want any of my PFD dollars to go to Medicaid. Time to get a full dividend our we will be paying for all kinds of stuff that is not essential…
Well, I self-identify as a sea otter. Will the state of Alaska now pay for my essential and necessary trans-species surgery? If not, I will cry “Oppression!”.
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