Colorado has gotten federal approval to require some health insurance plans in the state to cover comprehensive gender-affirming care for transgender people, the first state to do so.
The state’s plan, which would apply to individual and small group insurance plans, would cover procedures beyond genital or breast surgery, to include things like jaw, cheek and eye modifications, face tightening, facial bone remodeling for facial feminization, and laser hair removal.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service approved Colorado’s request to provide this care as part of the state’s “essential health benefits,” which are requirements for individual and small employer plans under the Affordable Care Act.
The requirement won’t apply to people who get insurance from large employers or government programs like Medicare.
States aren’t required to provide coverage for gender-confirming care in their state Medicaid programs, leaving it up to the individual states.
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