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Advocates: Decision Is Huge Victory For Transgenders In Maryland

February 19th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

WBAL reports Transgender people in Maryland will now have access to trans-inclusive health care.

Patrick Paschall, Executive Director of FreeState Legal and Equality Maryland called it a huge victory for transgender people in the state.

He says that trans healthcare has been a problem for a long time and that companies would often write exclusions into their plans.

The Maryland Insurance Administration issued a bulletin to health insurance companies that the exclusions are a violation of federal law.

"The state has interpreted existing federal regulations to mean that these exclusions are discriminatory," says Paschall.

The group has more than twenty cases open where it is navigating issues on behalf of transgender clients who have been denied access to some form of medical treatment by a health insurer.

Starting in 2017, health insurance plans sold in Maryland on the individual, small group and student markets will no longer exclude services for those who are transitioning.

Transgender people will be able to get the hormones they need, mental health help, and surgical care. 

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