WaPo has reported that U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has made a "first in the country" ruling that states that state health-care plans cannot exclude coverage for gender-affirming surgery. This is now the second ruling in a month in favor of trans rights coming from the 4th Circuit which WaPo states is "a trailblazer" for trans rights:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/04/29/gender-affirming-surgery-state-health-care-plans/
A federal appellate court in Richmond became the first in the country to rule that state health-care plans must pay for gender-affirming surgeries, a major win for transgender rights amid a nationwide wave of anti-trans activism and legislation.
The decision came from a set of cases out of North Carolina and West Virginia, where state officials argued that their policies were based on cost concerns rather than bias. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit rejected that argument, saying the plans were discriminating against trans people in need of treatment.
Judge Roger L. Gregory, an appointee of President Clinton, wrote for the majority that the restrictions were "obviously discriminatory" based on both sex and gender.
"In this case, discriminating on the basis of diagnosis is discriminating on the basis of gender identity and sex," Gregory wrote, because "gender dysphoria is so intimately related to transgender status as to be virtually indistinguishable from it."
The majority ruled that West Virginia's policy also violated the Affordable Care Act's anti-discrimination provision, a finding that has broad implications for other states' Medicaid programs.
It's the second ruling in favor of trans rights this month from the 4th Circuit, a once-conservative court that has become a trailblazer in the realm of transgender rights. The court was the first to say trans students had a right to use the bathrooms that align with their gender identity and the first to recognize gender dysphoria as a protected disability. Earlier this month, the court said a federally funded middle school could not ban a trans 13-year-old from playing on the girls' track and field team.