AMA Supports Transgender Health Care

Gay & Lesbian
Advocates & Defenders commended the American
Medical Association’s support for transgender health
care Monday in a press release.

The AMA’s
house of delegates in Chicago passed a resolution titled
“Removing Barriers to Care for Transgender
Patients,” which, according to GLAD, states,
“Be it resolved that the AMA supports public and
private health insurance coverage for treatment of
gender identity disorder.”
Getting
appropriate medical care --
whether psychotherapy, hormone therapy, or a variety of
surgical procedures -- is a struggle for most
transgender people because of prejudice, ignorance,
and simple discrimination, according to the release.

“This
resolution is hugely important, coming from the
country’s most respected medical
organization,” commented Jennifer Levi, director of
GLAD’s Transgender Rights Project, in the press
release. "Transgender people have to climb over so
many barriers in order to get appropriate care, not
the least of which is insurance coverage. The AMA resolution
should help providers, insurers, courts, and legislatures
put gender identity disorder in its proper context --
as a treatable health condition that insurers should
cover without discrimination."
The AMA’s
resolution can be found on GLAD’s website at www.glad.org. (The
Advocate)