ATLANTA — Georgia's LGBTQ+ communities took home a victory on Monday after the Georgia Department of Community Health lost a lawsuit over gender-affirming surgeries.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit over the department's exclusion of coverage for gender-affirming surgery in the State of Georgia’s Medicaid program in June 2021.
"This settlement will give low-income transgender Georgians on Medicaid—who are disproportionately likely to be Black—access to gender-affirming care for the first time in over 20 years. We are thrilled for our clients and the transgender community in Georgia," Nneka Ewulonu said, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Georgia.
They settled the case on Monday, with the "Georgia Department of Community Health agreeing to remove the exclusion for gender-affirming surgery from Georgia Medicaid and, like all other medical care provided in the program, provide the care when it is medically necessary for an individual," the ACLU said.
The state's Medicaid program now covers those with gender dysphoria on medicare who want gender reaffirming care.
“The ability to obtain gender-affirming surgical care, regardless of socioeconomic status, is an important factor in eliminating systemic health disparities and inequities that many transgender people face," Taylor Brown said, who's a staff attorney with the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project. "This settlement brings the state of Georgia’s Medicaid program in line with the accepted standards of care and the law."
According to the ACLU, the change is expected to come in a few months. Still, transgender Georgia Medicaid beneficiaries can go ahead and apply for coverage for their gender-affirming surgical care.