Transgender Patients Win Challenge to Medicaid Coverage Ban

Wisconsin Medicaid may no longer refuse to pay for gender-conforming surgery and hormone treatments for transgender people, a federal court said.

The state’s blanket exclusion on the coverage violated the Affordable Care Act, the Medicaid Act, and the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin said.

The court made permanent a July 2018 order that blocked the state from continuing to deny coverage to Medicaid patients. In April, the court extended the injunction and agreed to allow the case to proceed as a class action on behalf of about 5,000 Wisconsin transgender ...