decision made public Monday.The ruling came in a case brought by two transgender Iowans, Mika Covington and Aiden Vasquez, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, its Iowa affiliate, and attorneys from the firm of Nixon Peabody LLP.Medicaid is a joint federal-state insurance program that covers medical care for low-income Americans, people with disabilities, and certain others.
States have some leeway in setting eligibility requirements. At least nine states specifically exclude gender-affirming procedures.The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in 2019, in response to an earlier ACLU lawsuit, that a state Medicaid rule preventing the coverage was unlawful.