The City of Nashville’s Metro Employee Benefits Board is reconsidering plans to expand employee health insurance to cover gender reassignment surgeries for employees, but skeptics say it’s another option. It alleges that it could be discriminatory against employees and could violate new state laws restricting such care.
The board, which is set to vote on the issue next month, consulted transgender city officials and medical and religious experts at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. I also received a letter of support from Mayor John Cooper.
Cooper and his board supporters noted: many large companies already provides gender-affirming care to its employees. Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate Equality Index found last year Ninety-one percent of the companies evaluated by the study said they offered “transgender-inclusive medical benefits.”
“We have to prove that we are a city that welcomes not only visitors, but also residents and employees,” Cooper wrote. “Only then can Metro attract and retain the diverse, creative and innovative talent it needs to succeed in the future, and compete with other cities for top talent. By including gender-affirming care in Metro’s health insurance plans, we can do this, and Metro will catch up with Nashville’s top employers.”
The board voted 7-3 against such a plan in December 2021 after five years of debate on the issue. Lawmakers who voted against it at the time said it was discriminatory and like paying for cosmetic surgery.
Jeremy Moseley, who voted for the idea in 2021 and still says he “mostly agrees”, noted that Tennessee has outlawed gender-affirming care for minors, This time he expressed skepticism.U.S. Department of Justice challenging its ban. Moseley suggested that any expansion of benefits, even for adults, could lead to challenges from state legislatures.
“When we, as a board, try to step outside of Tennessee’s public policy sphere, we usually end up with new laws telling us not to do anything,” he said. “That’s a result we’re willing to accept as a possibility.”
Director Harold Finch expressed his suspicions that by supporting one “subgroup” of employees, “we are essentially discriminating against other groups.”
Metro employees who received gender-affirming care already testified on Tuesday that receiving gender-affirming care had significantly improved their mental health.
Britt Manor, an employee of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, said she started hormone replacement therapy in 2019 and eventually had a double mastectomy (also called). “upper surgery”. Manners said he would need to secure a $10,000 loan to qualify for the latter process.
“It was really heartbreaking to learn that it was a procedure specifically excluded by my employer,” he said. “I also felt confused, distrustful and frustrated because I thought Metro involved gender identity.My health has improved significantly since my neck surgery. , my emotional well-being is positively impacted.I’m thriving socially and I’m more confident” than ever. “
Alexandria Danner, an employee at the Nashville Public Library, said she struggled with severe anxiety and depression and was addicted to drugs and alcohol before the transition.
“This feeling of hopelessness and discord with my body caused an emotional anguish and pain that is difficult to describe in words,” Danner said. “For a long time, I never thought I would be 25 years old. I am the happiest and healthiest person in the world,” he added.
American Medical Association and all other medical associations America’s Leading Medical Societyexpressed support for gender-positive care.
“This is life-saving medicine,” Dr. Christopher P. Turnrup of Vanderbilt Medical Center told the Board of Directors. “We can provide the story, we can provide the data, but we want to share with you that improving mental outcomes is very important for this population.”
Frank Gluck is a health care reporter for The Tennessean. You can contact him at [email protected]. follow him on twitter @FrankGluck.
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