A federal judge decided Tuesday that a state rule prohibiting gender-affirming health care for state employees was unconstitutional.
The ruling came a month after Wisconsin’s Group Insurance Board decided to reaffirm gender-reassignment coverage by a 5-4 vote, but a lawsuit had already been set in motion.
The suit, brought forth by UW-Madison graduate student Alina Boyden and cancer researcher Shannon Andrews, was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the state for denying coverage for gender transition-related medical costs.
“As the court found, depriving transgender people of access to transition-related care is sex discrimination,” Legal Director Larry Dupuis said. “We will continue our work until all transgender people can get the medical care they need, just like other people can.”
U.S. District Judge William Conley determined the denial of coverage violated an anti-discrimination provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as well as a prohibition under the Federal Civil Rights Act.
“I'm pleased the court recognized that denying coverage for my medical care was sex discrimination,” Andrews said. “I hope that this will be a powerful signal that trans people are not fair game for discrimination and that our lives and health are not a political football.”
Conley’s decision, along with the state Group Insurance Board’s vote, could secure medical coverage for transgender state employees as early as Jan. 1, 2019.
