Brown adds sex-change coverage

Brown University has expanded its student health insurance to include coverage for sex-change surgery, one of 37 colleges and universities in the U.S. to cover hormone and gender reassignment/confirmation surgeries, according to the Transgender Law and Policy Institute.
“We admit to Brown based on a nondiscrimination policy and this benefit is important for some of our students under that policy,” said Margaret Klawunn, Brown University vice president for campus life and student services. “And some students and parents have been asking us to include this coverage.”
With recommendations from the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association that gender-reassignment procedures are medically necessary when prescribed by a physician and should be included in health-insurance coverage, more insurance companies are covering all or some of the procedures, she said.
“If this surgery is supported by those organizations, then the insurance companies are looking at it as important for the well-being of people,” she said. “[Other] schools are already covering it with their student insurance, so it’s not something new for Brown to do it.
“And it didn’t cost us any additional money,” Klawunn said. “With the renewal of our contract, we were able to add this enhancement and several others without increasing the cost.”
Brown is among a few colleges in New England, including Harvard University, Emerson College and the University of Massachusetts, to have sex-change procedures covered by its student health plan, according to a list compiled by the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. It is the only college in Rhode Island to cover the surgery, based on the list.
At Rhode Island School of Design, coverage for sex-change surgery would be decided by the school’s insurer, college spokeswoman Danielle Mancuso said.
“We are fully insured with Blue Cross Blue Shield and they determine coverage,” Mancuso said. “So the student would have to file the claim with Blue Cross.”
The University of Rhode Island’s student health insurance does not cover gender-reassignment surgery. URI Health Services Director Charles Henderson said in an email the student health- insurance policy spans a short duration and does not include any elective procedures.
But the definition of elective procedures may be in transition as colleges review evolving pressures from students and society and reflect those in student health services. Brown is among a growing number of colleges, particularly the nation’s elite schools, addressing a range of sex-change treatments covered by student health insurance, according to a Feb. 12, 2013 article in The New York Times.
No college or university offered such treatment just six years ago, according to the New York Times article.
Another 26 colleges do not cover surgery, but their student plans cover related hormone therapy, and 20 universities have plans that cover some or all sex-change treatments for their employees, according to the Transgender Law and Policy Institute.
The trend to cover sex-change procedures is growing among educational institutions and businesses, said Masen Davis, executive director of the San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center.
“On many campuses student health services meet many health care needs of the student. The expansion of health care services we see at Brown is a reflection of the fact that all students need to have their health care needs addressed, including transgender students,” Davis said.
“We also find that many transgender students determine what college they are going to go to based on a variety of details, and if campuses like Brown are going to attract the best and the brightest, they need to have health care services that are required,” he added.
“We’ve seen a big trend in very successful corporations providing transition-related care to their employees,” Davis said of the sex-change procedures. “The companies that are making this change are realizing the need to attract the best employees, and that’s what we’re seeing on campuses now.”
The Brown student health plan will cover 14 different sexual-reassignment procedures beginning in August, university Director of Insurance and Purchasing Services Jeanne Hebert told the Brown Daily Herald, a student newspaper.
“We identified this as an important benefit for students to have access to,” Hebert said, adding that the change was in line with “Brown’s efforts to support all students,” according to a Brown Daily Herald story published Feb. 6.
In general, the total package of sexual-reassignment surgeries, hormone therapy and other services can cost up to $50,000, Hebert told the student newspaper. •