Victory! Connecticut Expands Medicaid to Cover Transition-Related Healthcare

On Wednesday, Connecticut’s Department of Social Services announced a change in the state’s Medicaid policy to provide coverage for medically necessary healthcare for transgender people.

Learn more at Lambda Legal's Know Your Rights: Transgender Hub

The State previously barred transgender people from coverage for transition-related care, including hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery for gender dysphoria. The change comes in response to a letter sent by Lambda Legal in June 2014 where Lambda Legal called upon the Department of Social Services to lift the discriminatory ban.  The Department replied to our request stating that they agree with our position and immediately took steps to start the appeal process.  Both Lambda Legal and GLAD submitted comments to the proposed regulation detailing the medical necessity of this type of health care.

“We applaud Connecticut for taking steps to ensure that transgender Medicaid recipients can access the health care that their doctors deem medically necessary,” Dru Levasseur, Director of Lambda Legal’s Transgender Rights Project said.

“This victory is a great step forward for transgender health care, and we are thankful for the hard work and collaboration from both our government and organizational partners. We hope Connecticut’s example will inspire other states to take steps to lift discriminatory exclusions for transgender health care in Medicaid programs. Transgender people are four times more likely to have household incomes below $10,000 and twice as likely to be unemployed compared to other people in the U.S., and many rely on programs like Medicaid for essential healthcare.”