Annette Bening's Son on Transgender Healthcare: State Should Pay for Our Sex-Change Surgery, Hormone Treatments
Stephen Ira Beatty, Transgender Male, Says NY Healthcare Should Pay for Gender Reassignment
Annette Bening's son, transgender male Stephen, is calling for more healthcare opportunities to be paid for by New York's Medicaid program. Stephen, who was born Kathryn Elizabeth, claims that hormones, sex change surgeries and other gender transitional procedures are part of "the basic healthcare we need to survive."
Famous actors Annette Bening and Warren Beatty weren't mentioned in Stephen's public service announcement video, but the ad did showcase a number of transgender individuals and one medical professional advocating for an expansion of New York's Medicaid. The PSA was produced by GLAAD and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, according to Daily Mail.
"As a trans person, I would hope that I'd be welcomed but many trans people aren't because we don't have the basic healthcare coverage we need to survive," Stephen, who is a junior at Sarah Lawrence College, said.
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Although Stephen and other advocates were vague about what coverage they were being denied, Ronica Mukerjee, a family nurse practitioner, explained that hormones and other surgeries are not covered under Medicaid.
"Many people believe that providing hormones for trans patients is cosmetic but as a medical provider I can tell you how crucial it is for trans people to have knowledgeable trans-friendly providers," she said.
The PSA aims to convince New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah to expand Medicaid to cover transgender transitions. Medicaid is funded jointly by the federal and state governments.
Transgender people are currently covered under Medicaid for the same health benefits as all New York citizens who utilize Medicaid, but the law heeds the national Medicare law, which does not cover gender reassignments because of their "controversial" nature. There have also been other widely reported complications like include high suicide rates even after successful operations.
"Because of the lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism, the treatment is considered experimental," a 1981 Medicare law states. "Moreover, there is a high rate of serious complications for these surgical procedures. For these reasons transsexual surgery is not covered."
The federal law was challenged earlier this year in March by transgender woman Emily Pittman Newberry of Portland, Ore., who convinced the Department of Health and Human Services to reconsider the policy. It is still being reviewed by the independent Department Appeals Board.
Male-to-female gender reassignment reportedly costs anywhere from $7,000 to $24,000, while female-to-male surgery can exceed $50,000, according to SurgeryEncycolpedia.com. It is unknown how much of the cost could be passed on to taxpayers if the current Medicare and Medicaid laws are revised.
