Not good enough as this still discriminates against TS/TG people who need specific TS/TG related medical treatments.
From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/san-francisco-transgender-health-care_n_2093248.html?ir=Gay+Voices
By Aaron Sankin
Posted: 11/08/2012
In 2007, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to offer universal health care to its citizens through the Healthy SF program, which provides government subsidized health services to uninsured residents. Now, with a unanimous vote of the San Francisco Health Commission, the Healthy SF program will extend to transgender patients.
“Until now, Healthy SF excluded care for transgender issues, even when the procedures are medically necessary,” said Kristina Wertz, director of policy and programs at the Transgender Law Center. “A transgender man may need a hysterectomy as part of his transgender operations and it wouldn’t be covered, but a non-transgender woman could need the exact same procedure and it would be covered.”
The Bay Area Reporter explained that Healthy SF previously offered some services to its transgender subscribers, such as hormone treatment and mental health services, but excluded for them many surgical procedures available to non-transgender individuals.
“That to me was just wrong,” said San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, who initially proposed the rule change before the city’s Board of Supervisors earlier this year.
Wiener explained a transgender exemption wasn’t written into the initial law when Healthy SF was first proposed. The policy was instead inserted by the city’s Department of Public Heath during the early days of the program under the assumption that it would eventually be removed as Healthy SF moved forward.
Under the new system, Healthy SF will cover transgender procedures as long as they are both medically necessary and already covered for non-transgender patients.
Continue reading at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/san-francisco-transgender-health-care_n_2093248.html?ir=Gay+Voices
