Trans Alaska residents suing state over medical care battle

Three transgender Alaska residents –  Swan Being, Robin Black and Austin Reed – are suing the US state for denying them medical care, as Alaska is one of six states that explicitly bans insurance-related coverage of transition-related healthcare. The citizens have filed a lawsuit against the Ten and its director Adam Crum on the basis Alaska’s current regulations infringe on the Affordable Care Act’s non-discrimination guideline.

The 22-page complaint argues: “The regulation is grounded in sex stereotypes, discomfort with gender nonconformity, and moral disapproval of people who are transgender”. It also states to deny trans people appropriate healthcare conflicts with the “medical consensus that gender confirming medical care is the only safe and effective medical treatment for gender dysphoria.”

Swan Being, a 71-year-old trans woman, was the first to file a complaint after she claims she was denied medically necessary care five years after she began transitioning. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, Alaska, Tennessee, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Georgia have regulations in place to prevent trans people from accessing gender-affirming healthcare, despite ObamaCare regulations which aim to prevent discrimination based on gender identity.