At Harvard’s behest, Blue Cross Blue Shield modified their University-specific policy on transgender services. Employee coverage went into effect on Jan. 1, and student coverage will begin on Aug. 1, 2010.

Blue Cross developed a policy outlining generic medical coverage criteria for both top and bottom surgeries. However, Harvard has decided to remove the exclusion only for top surgeries—that is, breast augmentation and mastectomies—for now, as the possibility of covering genital surgeries is still being investigated.

“One concern they have is with the lack of qualified local providers,” says Noah E. Lewis, staff attorney for the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund and a 2005 graduate of Harvard Law School. “Which, of course, is the result of insurance exclusions in the first place.”

Prior to the modification, Harvard subscribed to a standard plan from Blue Cross that specifically excluded “services and supplies that are related to sex change surgery or to the reversal of a sex change.”

According to Lewis, the UHS exclusion forced transgender people to pay the same insurance premiums as other members of the Harvard community, without receiving equal benefits in return.

“The exclusion for transgender services stuck out like a sore thumb,” he says. “If transgender health care were not explicitly singled out for exclusion, these services would be covered, as would any other medically necessary drug or surgery.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/20...cal-insurance/

http://theipowa.org/?q=content/harva...sgender-health