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Iowa court finds Medicaid ban on transgender surgery is unconstitutional
Metro Weekly ^ | 6/7/18 | John Riley

Posted on 06/07/2018 10:17:43 PM PDT by iowamark

An Iowa court has determined that the state’s ban on Medicaid coverage for medically necessary surgical care for transgender residents is unconstitutional.

Chief District Judge Arthur E. Gamble of the Des Moines-based Fifth Judicial District of Iowa found that the Iowa Department of Human Services’ ban on surgical coverage violates both the Iowa Civil Rights Act and the state’s constitution. In his opinion, Gamble ordered DHS to immediately approve the women’s request for pre-approval of coverage under Medicaid.

Both women, Carol Ann Beal, 42, of northwest Iowa, and EerieAnna Good, 27, of the Quad Cities, have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and legally changed their names, and had their birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and Social Security cards changed to reflect their correct names and gender identity. Both women also began hormone therapy, and were advised by their doctors to pursue surgery for treatment of their gender dysphoria.

Iowa’s DHS office rejected both women’s requests for coverage, citing the ban. Afterwards, the women enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Iowa, and sued, arguing that the ban was unconstitutional.

Lawyers from the ACLU and ACLU of Iowa pointed out that Medicaid otherwise provides coverage for medically necessary surgeries utilized by transgender people, that would normally be covered had the individual in question been cisgender. Gamble echoed this in his opinion. “DHS does not explain why the medical necessity of requests for sex reassignment surgeries could not simply be evaluated under the same criteria as other requested surgeries or treatment of non-transgender individuals,” he writes. “Petitioners have provided clear medical documentation outlining the medical necessity of their requested procedures. Thus, the Court sees no reason why DHS and the MCOs need an additional and indefinite period of time to develop new and separate criteria for evaluating requests by transgender individuals as opposed to simply applying the existing criteria.”

“Today’s decision is historic for civil rights in Iowa, because it recognizes for the first time in a court decision what we’ve long known, that transgender Iowans are protected by the Iowa Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection, as well as by the Iowa Civil Rights Act,” Rita Bettis, the legal director of the ACLU of Iowa, said in a statement.

“We are so relieved for our brave clients that they can finally get the gender confirming surgical care that all their doctors agree is medically necessary for them,” Bettis added. “We are honored to represent them in their long journey for themselves and for all other transgender Iowans to be treated equally and fairly under the law.”

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services invalidated its ban on Medicare coverage for surgery and other transition-related care. Since then, several states have begun eliminating their state Medicaid bans on transition-related surgery, and individuals in other states, including Minnesota and Wisconsin, have sued their state health departments to eliminate the Medicaid exclusion.

“The court has brought Iowa in line with the current understanding of the critical needs for transgender people,” John A. Knight, a senior staff attorney with the national ACLU, said in a statement. “By recognizing and rejecting the historic discrimination faced by transgender people, the court is opening the door to the life-saving medical care and necessary gender-affirming treatment that transgender people are too often denied.” The court found that when the Medicaid ban was first implemented more than two decades ago, much less was known about gender dysphoria, and gender identity was not protected under the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Gender identity (as well as sexual orientation) has since been added as a protected class, and the Iowa Constitution guarantees equal protection for all Iowa residents, regardless of characteristics that are covered in the Civil Rights Act. Therefore, the court had no choice but to find the ban unconstitutional.

“We are thrilled that our state’s unconstitutional ban on transition-related surgical care has been struck down,” Daniel Hoffman Zinnel, the executive director of LGBTQ rights organization One Iowa, said in a statement. “Through our work with transgender Iowans, we have seen firsthand how powerful, life-changing, and absolutely essential gender-affirming surgery can be for transgender people grappling with gender dysphoria. This decision will, quite literally, save lives.”

“This has been a long time coming,” Beal said in a statement. “I’m so glad I can get the care I need, and I’m glad that other Iowans can now get the same care. Transition-related care is a medical issue, plain and simple. It’s like any other surgery that a doctor would recommend for you or a family member. Public or private insurance would pay for it, and you’d just do it and move ahead with your life.

“I look forward to the day when someone fighting to get the transition-related medical care they need isn’t in the news because they had to go to court to fight for it. But I’m doing it because someone needs to be the trailblazer here,” she added. “I want to make it easier for the younger people who need this surgery, so they don’t have to go through the struggles I have had to go through.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Iowa
KEYWORDS: activistjudge; arthurgamble; homosexualagenda; medicaid; transgender
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1 posted on 06/07/2018 10:17:43 PM PDT by iowamark
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To: iowamark

Decision:
https://www.scribd.com/document/381281918/Iowa-s-Medicaid-ban-on-transgender-transition-related-care-struck-down-Read-the-ruling

https://genderidentitywatch.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/paul-mchugh_-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-wsj.pdf
Dr. Paul McHugh: “Transgender Surgery isn’t the solution”


2 posted on 06/07/2018 10:19:33 PM PDT by iowamark
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To: iowamark

The State of Iowa will almost certainly appeal this ruling.


3 posted on 06/07/2018 10:20:32 PM PDT by iowamark
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To: iowamark

Meanwhile I can’t get a prosthetic from the V.A.


4 posted on 06/07/2018 10:20:59 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: iowamark

It’s ‘elective’ surgery and should not be covered.


5 posted on 06/07/2018 10:21:35 PM PDT by caww
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To: iowamark

I want youth confirming hair replacement.


6 posted on 06/07/2018 10:22:10 PM PDT by NoLibZone (Mueller, Obama, Hillary and Holder each made millions selling US uranium to Putin.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Then your not going to the right place....try another channel.


7 posted on 06/07/2018 10:22:34 PM PDT by caww
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To: iowamark
OK, how about rhinoplasty, facelifts, botox, tummy tucks, and hair transplants?
 
8 posted on 06/07/2018 10:23:31 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (MAGA in the mornin', MAGA in the evenin', MAGA at suppertime . . .)
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To: caww

I’m holding back on contacting Ted Cruz unless I’m totally denied.


9 posted on 06/07/2018 10:23:46 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: iowamark

Medicaid is between 70% and 90% federal dollars, so don’t laugh, you’re paying for it.


10 posted on 06/07/2018 10:25:35 PM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken
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To: iowamark

Send them to a Psychiatrist, not a Surgeon.


11 posted on 06/07/2018 10:25:47 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (The way Liberals carry on, you would think "Mexico" was Spanish for "Auschwitz".)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I cannot get covered oral surgery/reconstruction for multiple benign tumors because it would be dental care and cosmetic.


12 posted on 06/07/2018 10:28:36 PM PDT by LukeL
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To: iowamark

Yup and at er McHugh was no longer in charge Hopkins deserted the science based decision and has once again resumed the practice of cutting off normal organs


13 posted on 06/07/2018 10:31:56 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Do you have a Veterans’s Advocate assigned to you?
Some VA Hospitals, such as mine in San Francisco, have staff to help answer certain questions, or contact certain providers of care. Usually, a vet has to ask for an advocate’s assistance. Most do not. Most don’t even know of such a choice being available.

Have your primary doctor try getting a reaction from them.
If you are eligible for a certain prosthetic, you should be getting it, or at least an estimated date of availability.

Some prosthetics offices are very quiet and very slow.
They may have some volunteer at the front desk who does not really know what their talking about and may be too lazy to get up from the chair to ask about it. That I have seen myself. Call within the first two hours of the morning or right after that office takes lunch. They most likely will take a full lunch and lock the door. Good Luck!


14 posted on 06/07/2018 10:34:33 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: NoLibZone

I want youth confirming hair replacement.
***************************************
Just tell them that you self-identify as a young man with a head full of hair. After all, it’s your constitutional right to have them pay your medical expenses needed for you to be whatever you identify as.


15 posted on 06/07/2018 10:36:57 PM PDT by House Atreides (BOYCOTT the NFL, its products and players 100% - PERMANENTLY)
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To: iowamark

Insane. (And there are people who have real needs but instead a judge wants us to piss away tons of our tax money in this bullbleep?


16 posted on 06/07/2018 10:51:33 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicans aren't born, they're excreted." -Marcus Tillius Cicero (3 BCE))
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To: All

Damned Black-Robed Judiciarchs.


17 posted on 06/07/2018 10:52:10 PM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: iowamark

Oh, oh, did anyone ask the Hawaiian Judge about this?


18 posted on 06/07/2018 10:52:24 PM PDT by GraceG ("Q is dead, been dead a for a while...")
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To: LegendHasIt

19 posted on 06/07/2018 10:54:20 PM PDT by GraceG ("Q is dead, been dead a for a while...")
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To: iowamark

Ergo when gender reassignment surgery leaves the patient depressed and suicidal two years later, steps off a 7th floor balcony to end their misery, the state of Iowa Medicaid system can be sued for wrongful death along with the doctors who perform the genital torture?


20 posted on 06/07/2018 10:57:11 PM PDT by blackdog
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