PORTLAND, OR — Oregon’s Medicaid program will soon pay for gender reassignment surgery, hormone therapy and other treatments for transgender patients, becoming the third state besides the District of Columbia to extend coverage to gender dysphoria treatments. A panel of health experts added the condition to the list of treatments covered by the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s version of Medicaid, which provides publicly funded health coverage for nearly one million people.
Officials estimate that about 175 Medicaid patients per year will seek treatment for gender dysphoria, in which a person identifies with the opposite gender they received at birth, at an annual cost of less than $150,000.
“This is an historic step forward toward fairness and equality for transgender Oregonians,” said Danielle Askini, policy director for the advocacy group Basic Rights Oregon.
Oregon joins California, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in covering gender dysphoria treatments under Medicaid.
The coverage for gender dysphoria, previously known as gender identity disorder, is set to begin January 1st. The Oregon Health Authority still must formally change its rules to eliminate a prohibition against covering gender reassignment surgery, a process that’s has already started and will involve a public comment period.
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