Penn adds transgender employee insurance

Insurance coverage still limited for transgender employees

A year after deciding not to extend insurance coverage to transgender employees seeking gender reassignment surgery, Penn has reversed its decision.

The University announced on Feb. 28 in the Penn Almanac that coverage for transgender benefits will be extended to include sexual reassignment surgery under the Aetna Point of Service II plan.

Members of Penn’s LGBT community — who have lobbied for the addition of transgender insurance over the past few years — greeted the news with enthusiasm.

“I am very pleased,” LGBT Center Director Bob Schoenberg said. “The University has done a good thing and the right thing, and I’m very glad about it.”

The change in policy will be effective July 1.

Although transgender students have had access to insurance coverage for reassignment surgery since fall 2010, yesterday’s announcement marks the first time that coverage has been extended to faculty and staff.

According to Schoenberg, this change comes as the result of a long process of lobbying and advocacy work.

“There were a lot of people who worked on this issue and advocated for the change,” he said. “It was not just members of the LGBT Center staff or just members of the LGBT community. There were many people who felt this was the right thing to do.”

About a year ago, Penn declined to provide insurance for employees seeking gender reassignment surgery, citing financial constraints and cost containment as factors leading to the decision.

“Penn has studied this topic for several years, and based upon research that was done, we came to the conclusion that it is an issue of medical necessity,” Susan Sproat, executive director of benefits for Human Resources, wrote in an email. “We are happy to now include this as an eligible covered service.”

Sproat added that, while recent data suggests the average cost of each surgery will be approximately $16,000, “we have no clear estimate of utilization” for overall cost.

With Tuesday’s announcement, Penn joins a short list of schools that offer this type of insurance to transgender employees.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, American University, the University of Michigan, the 10 University of California schools and Harvard University are among the institutions that offer some form transgender coverage for faculty and staff — though the exact details of the schools’ programs vary substantially.

While College junior Jake Tolan, vice chair of political affairs for the Lambda Alliance — the umbrella organization for LGBT student groups — said the exact number of transgender employees who might opt for coverage under Penn’s new plan is unclear, he hopes many will at least be aware that the plan is available.

“We have the coverage, but it’s still a matter of educating people how to take advantage of it, pointing out where the pitfalls in the system may be,” he said.

Though Tolan said Tuesday’s development was “wonderful,” he acknowledged that he was slightly disappointed with the level of publicity the University gave to the announcement. Penn devoted two sentences on the sixth page of the Almanac to news of the coverage availability.

“If I had my way, I would have liked the University to have made a more explicitly political statement about it,” Tolan said.

Sproat wrote that Penn followed “standard communications protocol” with the placement and weight given to the announcement in the Almanac.

Regardless, many are encouraged by the fact that the expansion of insurance benefits will help to maintain Penn’s reputation as a trendsetter among LGBT-friendly college campuses.

“Penn is absolutely a leader of the pack on LGBT issues, but unless we continue to make progress on these fronts, we’re going to risk losing talented staff to other universities,” College sophomore and Lambda Alliance Chair Hugh Hamilton said. “I’m very proud that the University has made this decision.”

Insurance coverage still limited for transgender employees

Comments (9)

And people wonder why Penn’s tuition keeps raising. This is absolutely ridiculous that Penn provides insurance for sexual reassignment surgery. Is there ever a point in which we say no?

I am all for equal rights for everyone, but I still can’t comprehend how this should be covered by insurance. I always thought insurance was to cover medically necessary surgery. Is it actually necessary to get a sexual reassignment? This is a slippery slope, and before you know, we will start covering plastic surgery because someone wants to feel more “pretty” on the outside. Come on Penn! Stand up to common sense.

yes, reassignment surgery is medically necessary for some trans people. note: if you ever have to qualify something you’re about to say with ‘i’m all for equal rights,’ you are clearly not actually all for equal rights.

To the downplayers, you need to understand the reality and complexity of gender identity issues before you render an opinion on it. The cost/benefit is far more complex than looking simply as premium dollars (which are substantively irrelevant versus the big picture). When taken in context of happy employees that are retained, as well as seeing that Penn has taken the step to further solidify it’s stature as an eminent university, this is very much the right decision to make. Your argument of a slipperly slope related to cosmetic surgery fails against the established, medical and psyco-social dimensions related to gender identity issues.

The IRS made a ruling in 2010, that established that gender reassignment surgery is a medically necessary treatment and not a cosmetic procedure. They reiterated that policy again in 2011. The American Medical Association also states that this procedure is considered medically necessary and effective.

First, hahahahahaha IRS. They’re a shit show. Definitely not the people I would go to for back up.

Second of all, if a person has a legitimate, diagnosed disease such as depression because of body image issues (e.g. AA cup size), or hey, how about the good old Napoleon complex, should that be considered eligible for insurance coverage? I mean, I wouldn’t want to put just generic plastic surgery on the list . . .

I forget where I first read about this procedure (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/BeautySecrets/story?id=3948348&page=1#.T07O1Bz02ks), but apparently it’s one of the few instances in which psychological issues can be corrected via surgery. Should we put that on the list, too?

Lastly, the AMA is going the way of the rest of the world, afraid to say anything that might cause offense. It’s not biologically possible for transgender surgery to be effective. Ex-males cannot bear children, and I should think the case of the “pregnant man” shows that ex-females, far from producing sperm, still are quite intact in the child-bearing department.

Did you consider that perhaps reproductive capacity is not the only measure of a person as a man or a woman? Are you implying that an infertile woman is not a real woman? Think twice before you reduce people to their ability to reproduce.

When this was presented as student benefit two years ago the cost was shown to be minimal. Additionally when presented to employees it was also shown that the relative cost of adding this one benefit is not very high.

I would say a cost that factors into rising tuition rates are the multitude of capital projects happening on the campus right now. Penn Park, the two new SOM (TRL and planned Penn Tower) buildings…improvements to Vance Hall to name a few.

The test for male/female tends to be DNA . . . XY/XX chromosomes. If a association supposedly on the side of science (e.g. the AMA) is calling the procedure effective, I want them to back up that statement with scientific evidence. DNA isn’t changing from male to female or vice versa? The person undergoing the procedure isn’t altering reproductive abilities?

Oh, wait, nothing is happening except a cosmetic change, thanks to plastic surgery and administration of hormones.

re: baloney

Do you know that Penn diagnosis transsexualism? Perhaps you should contact them and tell them they got it wrong. This is a medical research university which will be hosting DSM V trials, which includes diagnosing and treating transsexualism.

Your prejudice is shining bright!

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