U of Penn Announce Insurance Plan Will Now Cover Transgender Reassignment Surgery

The University of Pennsyvania has announced that it’s latest insurance plan, to be introduced in the fall will absorb the cost of transgender reassignment surgery.

Covering triadic treatment (the three step process that makes up gender confirmation), The Daily Pennsylvanian reports that the plan will cover up to $50,000 worth of surgery, something which more than covers the average cost of  surgery which Transgender At Work found totalled around $20,000.

The introduction of the initiative by the previous Lambda Alliance board, chaired by College senior and Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Dennie Zastrow, came following an assessment by the board that, according to Zastrow, there was a:

“problem with LGBT advocacy at Penn in the past had been that we overlooked the needs of transgender students,”

According to the American Medical Association, a lack of proper treatment for transgender individuals can lead to “significant psychological distress, dysfunction, debilitating depression and for some patients without access to appropriate medical care and treatment, suicidality and death.”

Believing this initiative would act to ensure the transgender community’s needs were more closely met, the proposal was last brought to the Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee last semester and approved by the Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price this week.

This new insurance plan acts to bring the University of Pennsylvania in line with Stanford who have also acted to extend  their transgender insurance benefits.

Photo by mathplourde