Medicaid insurance providers in Michigan cannot refuse benefits for sex reassignment surgeries and hormone replacement medications. The governor’s office recently codified the antidiscrimination language into the state’s Medicaid Provider Manual. It’s already state policy.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer says this puts Michigan in line with federal law.
“Our laws have been inconsistent on the books here in Michigan and we thought it was important to clean it up and make sure that our laws reflected what the mandates of the Affordable Care Act are,” she says.
Erin Knott is the executive director of Equality Michigan. She says this is significant.
“I’m hopeful that this will just be one more step in the right direction as it relates to making our transgender friends and neighbors feel that they are an included part of our community and our society,” says Knott.
The state Department of Health and Human Services says there used to be inconsistencies in coverage. Now, Medicaid providers cannot discriminate based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identification.
Copyright 2019 Michigan Radio