Does insurance have to cover gender reassignment?
Asked by: Abigayle Rath | Last update: September 22, 2025Score: 4.4/5 (53 votes)
Do insurance companies pay for gender reassignment surgery?
Most health insurances that are based in California cover gender affirming surgeries as part of their Transgender Health Benefits. Each insurance plan's coverage varies, so contact your health insurance directly to see what surgeries are covered as well as requirements for surgery.
Does health insurance cover gender selection?
WILL INSURANCE PAY FOR GENDER SELECTION? Most insurance companies will not cover the sperm microsorting costs of gender selection. However genetic screening of the embryo may be covered to ensure that the baby will be normal and healthy.
Is gender reassignment surgery covered?
Many health plans are still using exclusions such as “services related to sex change” or “sex reassignment surgery” to deny coverage to transgender people for certain health care services. Coverage varies by state.
How much does gender reassignment surgery cost without insurance?
Since sex reassignment surgery encompasses a vast number of procedures varying in complexity, costs vary widely, with the average price range being $3,000-$50,000. Top surgery procedures cost between $3,000 and $10,000, while bottom surgery averages between $6,400 and $25,000.
Insurance plans to pay gender-confirming surgery
How do you pay for gender reassignment surgery?
- Online personal loan.
- Credit union personal loan.
- Credit card.
- CareCredit.
- Home equity line of credit.
- Family loan.
Why is gender reassignment surgery so expensive?
Facility-related costs include operating room fees, anesthesia fees, and hospital stay, which can vary by location and procedure. Generally speaking, most bottom surgery and facial surgery procedures involve a patient staying one or more nights in a hospital after surgery.
Does Medicaid pay for gender reassignment?
Gender-affirming care includes a range of services, such as surgical procedures, hormone therapy, and other forms of treatment. Twenty-five states and D.C. specifically include coverage for gender-affirming care under their Medicaid programs.
What are the requirements for gender reassignment surgery?
- Providing informed consent. You'll need to demonstrate that you understand what's involved. ...
- A history of gender incongruence. You may need to produce health records demonstrating a history of gender incongruence (usually a year or more).
- A mental health evaluation. ...
- Hormone therapy.
What is the downside of gender reassignment surgery?
There are serious risks associated with sex change. They include the risk of depressive illness and suicide. Physicians and mental-health professionals should know these risks and the regrets of those who have been through sex-change operations.
What is the gender rule in insurance?
The discrimination prohibited by this Section. 2561.2 includes any of the following: (1) Denying, cancelling, limiting or refusing to issue or renew an in. surance policy on the basis ofan insured' s or prospective insured 's actual. or perceived gender identity, or for the reason that the insured or prospec.
How do I know if my insurance covers gender-affirming care?
In California, some insurance plans are banned from excluding gender affirming care, while others are able to exclude such care. Much of the information you need about your insurance can be obtained from the plan website, your employer's HR department, or the phone number listed on your card.
Can you pay to pick the gender of your baby?
If PGT is used for gender selection alone, it may be called “family balancing.” The cost for IVF with PGT for gender selection can vary significantly across the US. For IVF alone, most people will pay around $15,000 to $20,000 per cycle. Genetic testing can increase the cost to over $30,000.
When did insurance start covering gender reassignment surgery?
Addressing this disparity, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) promulgated final regulations in 2016 implementing section 1557 of the ACA to extend protections against sex discrimination to health coverage and care for the first time and including gender identity discrimination within the definition of ...
Should gender reassignment surgery be publicly funded?
The procedure raises important ethical and distributive justice concerns, given the controversy of whether it is a cosmetic or medical procedure and the economic costs associated with performing the procedure. This paper argues that there is a strong case for funding GRS as a matter of clinical necessity and justice.
Is gender reassignment surgery covered by taxes?
IS TRANSITION RELATED MEDICAL CARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE? Yes. On November 21, 2011, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) affirmed that transgender people can deduct the costs of hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery from their gross income as medical expenses for the treatment of gender identity disorder (GID).
What insurance pays for gender reassignment surgery?
Companies like Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, and United Health Insurance are known to cover gender-affirming procedures under certain conditions.
What is the regret rate for gender-affirming care?
Regret after gender affirming surgery is less than 1 %. Regret after elective plastic surgery operations is significantly higher. Regret after major non-surgical life decisions is significantly higher. Patients with regret should receive multidisciplinary care.
Can you still feel pleasure after gender reassignment surgery?
With the transition to female genitalia, 65.5% of women were now able to find sexual activity more pleasurable; only six (20.7%) women found it to be less pleasurable and four (13.8%) experienced no difference in pleasurability.
How much does gender reassignment cost?
Gender-affirming surgery can cost between $6,900 and $63,400 depending on the precise procedure, according to a 2022 study published in The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics.
Can insurance deny gender-affirming care?
Under the ACA, it is illegal for most insurance companies to have exclusions of transition-related care, and it is illegal for most health providers to discriminate against transgender people, like by turning someone away or refusing to treat them according to their gender identity.
How do you get approved for gender reassignment surgery?
- Pharmacy records and medical records documenting your hormone therapy, if applicable.
- Medical records from your primary physician.
- Surgical readiness referral letters from mental health providers documenting their assessment and evaluation.
Do people regret gender reassignment surgery?
The pooled prevalence of regret was 1.94%. The prevalence of transfeminine regret was 4.0% while the prevalence of transmasculine regret was 0.8%. Conclusions: Both transfeminine and transmasculine patients had significantly lower rates of regret in the United States when compared with the rest of the world.
Which country has the most gender reassignment surgery?
Thailand is the country that performs the most gender-affirming surgeries, followed by Iran.
How much is bottom surgery without insurance?
The cost of transfeminine bottom surgery varies widely depending on the surgeon's experience, the clinic's location, the techniques used, and the extent of the procedure. On average, the cost of male-to-female, or MTF, bottom surgery in the United States ranges from $20,000 to $300,000.