The University of Pennsylvania, or Penn, has decided to extend their employer sponsored health insurance benefits to include coverage for gender reassignment surgery. This decision puts Penn among the schools who offer this type of coverage to their faculty and staff.
A standard health insurance plan probably does not specifically cover the type of health care that a person who is transgendered might require. Triadic treatment includes sex reassignment surgery, hormone therapy, and mental health care. A person who requires triadic treatment is going to find it difficult to afford if it is not covered by their health insurance.
Recently, the University of Pennsylvania decided to extend their employee health insurance coverage to include coverage for sexual reassignment surgery. This will be covered under the University’s Aetna Point of Service II Plan. The policy change will become effective July 1, 2012.
Interestingly, Penn’s student health insurance plan has included coverage for sexual reassignment surgery since the Fall of 2010. Now, the employee plan matches what was already being offered to students.
Several large corporations already offer employer sponsored health insurance plans that cover the health care needs of transgender workers. Some of these corporations include Coca Cola, Yahoo!, American Express, AT&T, New York Life, and Wells Fargo.
Part of the reason why is so that the businesses can stay competitive, and continue to attract the best educated, most skilled, workers. There is the potential that someday there will be an employee who needs sex reassignment surgery. If their employer sponsored health insurance doesn’t cover it, that worker might decided to seek employment with a corporation that does include that coverage.
Businesses put a lot of time and effort into training employees. It costs money to train workers, and time for that worker to learn everything he or she needs to know in order to make a profit for the company. If that worker quits, then the business has to spend time and money, all over again, to properly train the new worker.
This is true for universities as well. They, too, spend a great deal of time and effort seeking qualified employees. They face the same problems as businesses do when a talented employee quits, and finds work with a different university that offers a health plan that covers what the worker needs.
It is also worth noting that adding coverage for transgender surgery does not necessarily equate to a rise in the cost of premiums. Very few workers are going to require sex reassignment surgery. There is potential that a university could include this coverage and never have more than a small number of employees file a claim for this type of health care.
By adding this coverage, the University of Pennsylvania joins American University, the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and the ten campuses that are connected to the University of California. All of them offer some form of transgender coverage for faculty and staff. The specific details of each school’s health insurance plans may differ.
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