A ban by the North Carolina State Health Plan (NCSHP) for Teachers and State Employees on paying for transgender surgery resulted in unlawful sex discrimination, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina decided. It's the latest decision among district and circuit courts seeking to interpret what is and is not discriminatory behavior based on sex.
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Exclusion Ruled Discriminatory
The NCSHP's blanket exclusion on paying for gender-confirming care "necessarily rests on a sex classification" because it would be impossible to determine if a particular treatment is connected to such care without considering a person's biological sex, the court said. The court relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's reasoning in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that an employer can't fire an employee solely for being gay or transgender.
The recent North Carolina district court decision is one of several cases throughout the country disputing government health plans' limitations on paying for medically necessary transition-related care.
Federal Court Permits Christian Doctors to Deny Gender-Affirming Care
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Aug. 26 that the federal government cannot require health care providers to perform gender-transition procedures or abortions when the providers have a religious objection. In Franciscan Alliance v. Becerra, the court confirmed that the federal...
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