Georgia agrees to fund gender-affirming care for public workers, settling lawsuit

ATLANTA– The state of Georgia will begin funding gender-affirming health care for state employees, public school teachers and former employees covered by a state health insurance plan, addressing another series of lawsuits against Georgia agencies aimed at forcing them to pay for the genre. confirmatory surgery and other procedures.

The plaintiffs moved to dismiss their case Thursday in Atlanta federal court, announcing they had reached a settlement with the State Health Benefit Plan.

The December lawsuit claimed the insurance plan unlawfully discriminated by refusing to pay for gender-affirming care.

There is no justification, morally, medically, legally or otherwise, for treating transgender health care as different and denying people access to it, David Brown, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said during a telephone interview on Thursday.

The state Department of Community Health, which oversees the insurance plan, did not immediately respond Thursday to an email seeking comment.

The state will also pay a total of $365,000 to the plaintiffs and their attorneys as part of the settlement. Micha Rich, Benjamin Johnson and an unnamed state employee who is suing on behalf of his adult child all said they spent money out of their own pockets that should have been covered by insurance.

Since July 1, Georgia has legally barred new patients under 18 from starting hormone treatment and has banned most gender-affirming surgeries for transgender people under 18. That law, challenged in court but still in effect, allows doctors to prescribe puberty-blocking drugs and allows minors already receiving hormone treatment to continue.

But Brown said Thursday’s settlement requires the health insurance plan to pay for care deemed medically necessary for spouses and dependents as well as employees. This means the health plan could be required to pay for out-of-state care of minors, even though it is prohibited in Georgia.

The plan cannot treat care any differently than other care that is not available in the state, Brown said.

The lawsuit cited a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that treating a person differently because they are transgender or gay violates a section of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. The plaintiffs in this case included a Clayton County, Georgia, employee.

Affected are two health plans paid for by the state but administered by Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare.

This is the fourth in a series of lawsuits against Georgia agencies aimed at forcing them to pay for gender confirmation surgeries and other procedures. State and local governments have lost or settled previous lawsuits.

The University System of Georgia paid $100,000 in damages in addition to changing its rules in 2019 when it settled a case brought by a University of Georgia dining manager. And the Department of Community Health agreed last year to change the rules of the state’s Medicaid program to settle a lawsuit brought by two Medicaid recipients.

Last year, a jury ordered Houston County to pay $60,000 in damages to a sheriff’s deputy after a federal judge ruled that his bosses illegally denied the deputy health coverage for a gender confirmation operation. Houston County is appealing that ruling and oral arguments are scheduled for November before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit settled Thursday were three transgender men. Micha Rich is an accountant with the Georgia Department of Audit and Accounts, and Benjamin Johnson is a media clerk with the Bibb County School District in Macon. The mother of the third man, identified only as John Doe, is an employee of the Paulding County Division of Family and Children Services and covers the student on her insurance.

All three were assigned female at birth, but transitioned after therapy. All three appealed their denial of breast reduction or removal surgery and got the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to conclude that Georgia discriminated against them.

“I am thrilled to know that none of my trans colleagues will ever have to experience what I experienced,” Rich said in a statement.

A court ruling found a similar ban in North Carolina illegal; the State appeals. A Wisconsin ban was overturned in 2018. West Virginia and Iowa have also lost lawsuits over employee coverage, while Florida and Arizona are facing lawsuits.

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