Gender-Affirming Care Pay Cases Moved to Full Fourth Cir. (1)

Two cases that likely will define the scope of transgender rights in health care will be considered by a full contingent of Fourth Circuit judges, the court announced Wednesday.

Both cases involve coverage exclusions for gender-affirming care in state-sponsored programs—bans that illegally discriminate against transgender people under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause and the Affordable Care Act’s Section 1557, according to the plaintiffs.

And, while both have been argued before three-judge panels in the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, neither panel has issued an opinion. A decision granting en banc rehearing at this stage, wholly on ...