From The Advocate: http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2013/04/01/medicare-wont-yet-decide-whether-cover-gender-reassignment-surgery
After saying it would seek comments on a potential policy change, the Department of Health and Human Services rescinded its call for public input on Medicare’s long-standing ban on coverage for gender reassignment surgeries.
BY Sunnivie Brydum
April 01 2013
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department reversed course Friday night after saying earlier that day that it would consider revising Medicare policy to cover medically necessary gender transition surgeries.
Friday morning the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs the government’s national insurance program, published an announcement on its website that it would be seeking public input on its reconsideration whether or not to cover gender reassignment surgery for people on Medicare, as The Advocate reported.
But later that same day, HHS issued a contradictory statement, and the center withdrew its request for comment on the potential policy change.
The confusion arose from an administrative challenge to Medicare’s 30-year-old statutory refusal to provide medically necessary health care to transgender patients. Both Medicare and Medicaid currently prohibit all forms of gender reassignment surgery, regardless of the individual patient’s diagnosis or serious medical needs.
“An administrative challenge to our 1981 Medicare national coverage determination concerning sex reassignment surgery was just filed,” an HHS spokesperson told The Hill Friday. “This administrative challenge is being considered and working its way through the proper administrative channels. In light of the challenge, we are no longer re-opening the national coverage determination for reconsideration.”
Continue reading at: http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2013/04/01/medicare-wont-yet-decide-whether-cover-gender-reassignment-surgery
