Insurance paying gender reassignment for Wisconsin government employees

Attorney general board wants exclusion back in place

While some states battle about which bathroom a transgender people can use, Wisconsin is fighting a little bit different battle along the same lines.

Gender reassignment isn’t something that many insurance companies will pay for, unless you’re a Wisconsin state employee.

That is, however, still a topic for debate in Madison.

The state’s Group Insurance Board approved gender reassignment surgery but, in a battle of competing memos from other state agencies, arguments are flying over whether that change is necessary to comply with the federal Affordable Care Act.

One agency says it is and will not be removing the transgender exclusion, which could threaten tens of millions in Wisconsin Medicare reimbursements. The justice department calls that a flawed interpretation. The attorney general’s office says wants the insurance board to put the gender reassignment exclusion back into place.

For now medical procedures to go from male to female or female to male will likely be covered for state employees.