The City of Cincinnati’s employee insurance will cover medically necessary transgender procedures beginning next year, city officials say.
The effort was led by City Councilman Chris Seelbach, who headed up a majority of Cincinnati City Council who signed a letter supporting the change. Interim City Manager Scott Stiles Aug. 22 institued the change by notifying the city’s insurance provider. Councilmembers P.G. Sittenfeld, Yvette Simpson, Wendel Young and Vice Mayor David Mann also signed the letter. The remaining councilmembers and Mayor John Cranley did not.
Supporters hope the new policy will help Cincinnati attract new residents and employees. The move follows a series of steps the city has taken over the past few years to become more LGBT friendly, including extending same-sex partner benefits to employees in 2012 and creating a same-sex benefits registry for businesses in the city.
The shift could boost Cincinnati’s score with the Human Rights Campaign, which rates municipalities on their inclusiveness when it comes to the LGBT community. Cincinnati’s current score is 90. Transgender groups applauded the move.
“All employees need access to health care – and some individuals who work for the city just also happen to be transgender,” Trans Ohio founder Shane Morgan said in a statement. “I’m hoping that other cities in Ohio will follow.”
Cincinnati will be the first city in Ohio to provide coverage for transgender procedures, joining cities like San Francisco and Seattle as well as large companies like Procter & Gamble and General Electric that do.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently lifted a ban restricting Medicare from paying for transgender surgeries. That ban was put in place in 1981 because surgery for those who gender-identify differently from their biological sex was considered “experimental” at the time. But medical consensus has shifted and such procedures have gained mainstream acceptance, with organizations like the American Medical Association deeming them safe.
Procedures covered by the city would need to be deemed medically necessary by a professional mental health counselor. City officials say that there are few, if any, expected cost increases associated with covering the procedures.
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2014.
