Trans Patients Often Have to Travel Out of State for Care: Study
Most patients undergoing genital gender-affirming surgery do so outside their home states, resulting in higher costs for the procedures, according to a study published online in JAMA Surgery.
The study by Oregon Health & Science University is the first to offer a national estimate of exactly how much gender-affirming genital surgeries costs, according to its researchers.
They found that about half of transgender and gender-diverse patients who undergo gender-affirming genital surgery travel outside their state to receive treatment, and they spend about 50 percent more on out-of-pocket medical expenses when they travel.Jae Downing, the paper's lead researcher and an assistant professor of health policy at the Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health, said the findings of this study can be used by patients and insurance companies to plan how to receive or cover this surgically necessary treatment, according to OHSU.Downing and their colleagues examined whether the out-of-pocket and total costs of gender-affirming surgery differed depending on whether the procedure was performed in their state or outside.
In addition, the team compared out-of-pocket and total costs for commercially insured patients. There were 771 patients undergoing genital surgery (609 vaginoplasties; 162 phalloplasties).Forty-one and 56 percent of vaginoplasty patients underwent surgery in and outside their state of residency.
