Health & Healthcare

Just like everyone else, transgender people deserve competent health care, whether that’s an annual physical or transition-related care. 

Unfortunately, in today’s climate transgender people’s health care is both widely stigmatized and often misunderstood. Those unfamiliar with, or hostile to, the health needs of transgender people might portray transition-related care as “cosmetic” or a choice. In fact, the medical necessity of transition-related care is overwhelmingly supported by medical literature as effective, necessary, and even life-saving for many transgender people.

Major medical groups like the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics publicly support the current evidence-based guidelines for transition-related care, and these same groups oppose any discrimination against trans patients, including restrictions on the type of care or coverage a transgender person can receive. 

Despite the protections of the Affordable Care Act and other laws that prohibit discrimination, transgender people continue to encounter barriers to care. Transgender people face significant job loss and job fragility and, therefore, a higher rate of uninsurance. While many public and private insurance plans have removed exclusions that blatantly target transgender people, many plans continue to deny coverage for medically necessary care. Even when transgender people have access to comprehensive coverage, discrimination is still prevalent in many health care settings, and contributes to health disparities when compared to the general US population. Discrimination is particularly dangerous in emergency situations - and in rural areas, where there may be few alternatives if one provider refuses to treat transgender people. 

A4TE works with federal, state and local agencies and advocates to ensure that transgender people have access to quality health care.