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NCTE Applauds the AMA
Call for "Removal of Financial Barriers to Care for
Transgender Patients"
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The American Medical Association (AMA) passed a resolution
yesterday calling for "public and private health insurance
coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder as
recommended by the patient's physician." The declaration,
known as Resolution 122, "Removing Financial Barriers to
Care for Transgender Patients," was passed by the House of
Delegates - AMA's primary decision-making body - at its
annual conference in Chicago.
Resolution 122 affirms the effectiveness of medical
treatment for transsexuals and the right to appropriate
treatment. It also names as discriminatory the categorical
denial of health insurance coverage for psychotherapy,
hormonal and surgical treatments for transgender patients,
and reiterates the AMA's opposition to discrimination based
on gender identity. The full text of the resolution is
below.
"America's physicians are saying that transgender people,
like all others, deserve competent medical care based on
what individual doctors and their patients determine is
healthiest for each person," noted Mara Keisling, Executive
Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE).
"Doctors and patients, not insurance companies, should be
making those choices. We are so glad that the AMA has taken
a leadership role against the rampant discrimination that
transgender people have faced for so many years in receiving
appropriate medical care and equitable insurance coverage,"
Health insurance coverage has been made into prominent
national issue recently thanks in part to a three year
campaign by the AMA. NCTE has prioritized ending health
insurance discrimination against transgender people.
RESOLUTION 122
Subject: Removing Financial Barriers to Care for Transgender
Patients
Whereas, Our American Medical Association opposes
discrimination on the basis of gender identity; and
Whereas, Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is a serious medical
condition recognized as such in both the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition (DSM-IV)
and the International Classification of Diseases (10th
Revision); and is characterized in the DSM-IV as a
persistent discomfort with one's assigned sex and with one's
primary and secondary sex characteristics, which causes
intense emotional pain and suffering; and
Whereas, GID, if left untreated, can result in clinically
significant psychological distress, dysfunction,
debilitating depression and, for some people without access
to appropriate medical care and treatment, suicidality and
death; and
Whereas, The World Profession for Transgender Health, Inc. (WPATH)
is the leading international, interdisciplinary professional
organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of
gender identity disorders, and has established
internationally accepted Standards of Care for providing
medical treatment of people with GID, including mental
health care, hormone therapy, and sex reassignment surgery,
which are designed to promote the health and welfare of
persons with GID and are recognized within the medical
community to be the standard of care for treating people
with GID; and
Whereas, An established body of medical research
demonstrates the effectiveness and medical necessity of
mental health care, hormone therapy, and sex reassignment
surgery as forms of therapeutic treatment for many people
diagnosed with GID; and
Whereas, Health experts in GID, including WPATH, have
rejected the myth that such treatments are "cosmetic" or
"experimental" and have recognized that these treatments can
provide safe and effective treatment for a serious health
condition; and
Whereas, Physicians treating persons with GID must be able
to provide the correct treatment necessary for a patient in
order to achieve genuine and lasting comfort with his or her
gender, based on the person's individual needs and medical
history; and
Whereas, Our AMA opposes limitations placed on patient care
by third-party payers when such care is based upon sound
scientific evidence and sound medical opinion; and
Whereas, Many health insurance plans categorically exclude
coverage of mental health, medical, and surgical treatments
for GID, even though many of these same treatments, such as
psychotherapy, hormone therapy, breast augmentation or
removal, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, and
salpingectomy, are often covered for other medical
conditions; and
Whereas, The denial of these otherwise covered benefits for
patients suffering from GID represents discrimination based
solely on a patient's gender identity; and
Whereas, Delaying treatment for GID can cause and/or
aggravate additional serious and expensive health problems,
such as stress-related physical illnesses, depression, and
substance abuse problems, which further endanger patients'
health and strain the health care system; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association support
public and private health insurance coverage for treatment
of gender identity disorder as recommended by the patient's
physician. (New HOD Policy).
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The National Center for Transgender
Equality is a national social justice
organization devoted to ending discrimination and violence
against transgender people through education and advocacy
on national issues of importance to transgender people.
The National Center for Transgender Equality is a 501(c)3
organization. For more information, please visit
www.nctequality.org.
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