Elana Redfield
Yesterday, Governor Cuomo and the New York State Department of Health announced that our Medicaid programs will now cover transgender healthcare. This is a momentous victory for SRLP community members and all transgender New Yorkers.
The proposed regulation will allow transgender people to access hormones and surgeries under Medicaid. Introduced on December 17th, the regulation is open for 45 days of public comment. The announcement comes in response to Cruz v. Zucker – a lawsuit the Sylvia Rivera Law Project brought in partnership with the Legal Aid Society and the law firm Willkie, Farr and Gallagher – and to the incredible persistence of our communities in demanding this care.
It may be useful to share a little history of this regulation. Passed in 1998, the regulation banned access to hormones and all surgeries commonly sought by transgender people. The impact was quick and deep, as thousands of low income transgender people and transgender people of color were cut off from life-saving care and denied much-needed treatments.
Since SRLP opened our doors in 2002, one of our primary goals has been to bring down this discriminatory ban. Here is a brief history of this incredible campaign:
- In collaboration with other transgender and queer groups, such as Queers for Economic Justice, Audre Lorde Project and the Gender Identity Project of the NY LGBT Center, we began organizing and strategizing to take down the regulation.
- Working with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, we filed the first lawsuit to challenge the ban, Casillas v. Daines.
- When the court was unwilling to overturn the regulation, we partnered with the Legal Aid Society to bring a challenge to Governor Patterson.
- We held health care focus groups for trans people of color and developed a Cost-Benefit Memo gathering all available data on transgender health care
- When Governor Patterson was unwilling to overturn the regulation, we partnered with Housing Works and the Empire State Pride Agenda to bring it to Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team, with 500 signed petitions. Assembly Member Richard Gottfried and Senator Brad Hoylman declared their support.
- When the Redesign Team refused to overturn the regulation, we started our healthcare media campaign with GLAAD and Callen Lorde this time with videos, infographics, and thousands of signed petitions.
- Working with Make the Road NY, GLOBE, and the Audre Lorde Project, we then used direct action to keep transgender healthcare on the agenda for the Department of Health. We met with the Health Care for All New York Coalition (HCFANY) to join forces.
- May 30, 2014 – U.S. Department of Health repealed transgender healthcare ban under federal Medicare program after Denee Mallon case and advocacy by organizations including GLAD, ACLU, and NCLR.
- In June 2014 we filed Cruz v. Zucker – the same week TIME Magazine hailed “The Transgender Tipping Point.”
- December 10, 2014 – As a result of our lawsuit and advocacy by HCFANY, Governor Cuomo released a bulletin clarifying that private insurance that covers mental health care must cover transgender health care
- December 17, 2014 – New Medicaid Regulation introduced for 45 days of public comment.
We have been fortunate to partner with so many incredible organizations to bring about this change. In particular we want to thank the Legal Aid Society and Willkie, Farr and Gallagher for their incredible drive and legal expertise in guiding this case. We are grateful to the Health Care for All New York campaign for supporting us and lifting up our communities. And of course, we are grateful to the Cuomo administration for being willing to step up and address this long-standing injustice.
The regulation is not perfect – we would like to see care covered for young people under 18, and we would like to see all forms of gender-affirming care covered. But this is a great start. We invite all transgender people of color, low income people and allies to join us as we plot our next steps. Stay tuned for campaign updates and next steps in early 2015!
And the fight continues. As we have seen in Ferguson, Staten Island, and all over the country, the legal system is not designed to protect our communities. We must fight for the lives of our community members, fight to end racism and all forms of oppression or violence and poverty will persist.
Only hours after yesterday’s news was announced, we received devastating news that the appeals court in Massachusetts overturned the decision in Kosilek v. Spencer – a groundbreaking case where the court said that a transgender prisoner has the right to gender-affirming surgery. The decision to deny this right will be appealed to the higher courts, but we cannot rely solely on the legal system to fight for healthcare access and gender self-determination. Just as our community mobilized for this Medicaid win, we must continue to organize with our community members in prison. We believe that all people are entitled to gender-affirming care. We believe that all people deserve to be free. We believe that the fight for gender self-determination will not be over until all people are free to self-determine their gender – and until the prison system as we know it is abolished.
The work we are doing is the work of liberation. This week’s Medicaid announcement is a tremendous victory for all transgender people. It is also a testament to the power of movement building, to working together to bring about the world we believe in, and to the combined strength of legal work, community organizing, media, and government advocacy. We could not be more proud of our communities and our allies for the work we have done.
Please consider making a donation to celebrate this milestone and support our continued work.
– Sylvia Rivera
that's covered under mental health,right? for people who are to stupid to look in their pants and see what sex they are?
Your obviously retarded for having that mind set
no,just from a less confused generation.and who's to say it isn't YOUR mindset that's retarded? it could go both ways,you know.
People commit suicide because of this type of thinking sadly I hope you can reconsider
What's in their pants does NOT define the gender they are. If a woman who had to have double mastectomy due to breast cancer, is she a less of woman because she has no breasts? Think about it. If a male baby had a botched circumcision and had to have surgery but it wasn't perfect, is he a less of man? Think about it. Transgender people know what sex they are born, and they know that their biological sex doesn't match their gender identity. That IS WHY they come out as transgender. I hope you know that everybody has a gender identity, including you. It's so obvious that we see it everyday. That doesn't justify them to be too stupid to look in their pants, but you being too stupid to understand what transgender means. By the way, there are so many trans people who were born in your generation. You're the one who's too confused, and I hope you would reconsider and become educated.
Sorry but this is real and has been occurring in all populations from the beginning of civilization. They are not confused, you are. I hope you come to understand one day. It starts at toddler age, in the UK patients as young as 3 years old are accepted into treatment programs.
CORRECTION: it doesn't start at toddler age, it starts in the womb, as the baby is being formed, it's not until toddler age that we adults begin to realize because at that age is when communication begins.
people who commit suicide look for permanent solutions to temporary problems.
Sheryl Lord inability to access surgical cures and constant attacks by a socciety that only wants to kill you does that. theres a hopelessness envolved. if it were truly temporary then wed have a scheduled operation date and nationwide civil rights protections.
Sheryl Lord is obviously a bigot as well as a moron
i'm smart enough to know you people arent worth my time.
Sheryl Lord you people so racist
Sheryl doesen't understand what transgender means She jest don't want to understand.I gess we the Trans are makeing others life so bad that they can't work / can't go to the store / have fun with their famly's / or jest being them sealf. They have to wearied about us The Trans people who isen't stopping their lifes. but trying to live our own lifes. I was told that God is the Juge. BUT I gess God has died and now the haters are the juges. BUT maby I could be rong lol O will I'am nuty jest haveing fun & being free injoying my life.