Maryland Governor Signs Trans Health Equity Act
estimates that 29 bills seeking to ban gender-affirming treatments — mostly for youth, though some seek to ban Medicaid and private insurers from covering transition-related procedures — have been passed into law this year.“We should not be in the business of telling low-income or impoverished people that they don’t deserve access to the same level of care that every other Maryland resident has access to,” Del.
Kris Fair (D-Frederick Co.), the chair of the Maryland LGBTQ+ Caucus, told The Washington Post. “Current political environments across the country are pushing back against the idea that people have the right to identify as transgender.
This will simply reaffirm Maryland’s commitment to its trans community.”Legislative analysts have estimated that the change will impact roughly two dozen people per year, for whom Medicaid is their primary insurer.Republicans in the Democratic-dominated General Assembly complained that some gender-affirming treatments or procedures offered to the transgender community, such as fertility services, are unavailable to other recipients, such as cancer patients.Others objected to the host of other treatments that fall under the umbrella of “medically necessary care” when treating gender dysphoria.
Del. Mark Fisher (R-Calvert Co.) even called gender-affirming treatments “mutilation” and objected to using taxpayer dollars to cover the cost of them.When the bill was debated in the House of Delegates back in March, Del.
