People who are covered by the Georgia State Health Benefit Plan, including state employees and their dependents, now have access to transgender health care services, thanks to a lawsuit settlement.
“I am thrilled to know that none of my trans colleagues will ever have to go through what I did,” said Micha Rich, an employee of a Georgia government agency and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, according to the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. “I hope this is a new day for my beloved state of Georgia in its treatment of trans and nonbinary people.”
In addition to providing access to all covered by the plan, the settlement also provided a financial settlement totaling $365,000 to the plaintiffs. Rich, Benjamin Johnson and Jane Doe – all government agency employees – Jane Doe’s young adult child and the Campaign for Southern Equality were plaintiffs in the case.
“Mr. Rich is a Staff Accountant at the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts. Mr. Johnson worked as a Media Clerk at an elementary school in Bibb County, Georgia. Both men have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, for which the treatment is social and medical gender transition, as recommended by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH),” said the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.
This March, Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 140 into law. That legislation prohibited “certain surgical procedures for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors from being performed in hospitals and other licensed healthcare facilities,” according to a press release from the governor’s office.
Even before that bill was signed, the plaintiffs had filed the case against Georgia for denying transgender-related health coverage, according to NBC News.
“There’s no justification, morally, medically, legally or in any other way for treating transgender healthcare as different and denying people access to it,” David Brown, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a phone interview with the outlet Thursday.
Georgia’s health plan covers more than a million people in the state. These include employees of state agencies and public school districts. Open enrollment in the program is currently underway.
With the settlement, those covered by SHBP will be able to access transgender health services immediately. Their plans will include a new provision. It clarifies that transgender healthcare coverage generally includes medically necessary transgender surgery and/or other services as deemed medically necessary and appropriate by the member’s treating medical personnel, consistent with the Standards of Care of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
There were also other changes to language regarding gender-affirming care.
“When I was able to get the medical treatment I needed, I finally felt whole. I feel like this is the person I was meant to be, and my mental health has improved drastically. I hope that this settlement means that other trans Georgia state employees can feel the joy and relief I have felt having gotten the medical treatments that I needed,” said Johnson.