Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Rise In Transgender Surgeries May Be Result Of Expanded Insurance Coverage, Experts Say
The Washington Post: Transgender Surgeries Are On The Rise, Says First Study Of Its Kind
In the first broad demographic study of trends in gender-affirming surgeries in the United States, researchers found that the number of operations increased fourfold from 2000 to 2014. Some of the significant rise, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Surgery, may be related to an increase in insurance coverage for the procedures. “Early on we recognized there’s been a lot of work on health disparities having to do with age, race and so on that get collected in health-care settings,” said Brandyn Lau, an assistant professor of surgery and health sciences informatics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “One of the things we need to know is whether [lesbian, gay and transgender] patients are getting the same care.” (Nutt, 2/28)
The Baltimore Sun: More People Getting Gender Reassignment Surgery
Those who work with transgender patients said the results of the Johns Hopkins study show that the health care industry is slowly becoming more sensitive to the needs of these patients. Jody Herman, a scholar with The Williams Institute, said that more researchers are using medical records from Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers to try to glean a better picture of the health of transgender people. (McDaniels, 2/28)
In other news —
The Associated Press: TV Ad Aims To Pressure Trump On Transgender Military Service
Activist groups are turning to television ads — including on President Donald Trump's go-to station, Fox News — to pressure the White House into allowing transgender people to keep serving in the military. Trump has vowed to ban transgender troops from serving. He'll be able to see the 30-second commercial as of Friday, when it starts airing on Fox, CNN and MSNBC morning shows. It uses a series of quotes from Trump, a former senior military leader and several Congress members who were in the armed forces to argue that all qualified Americans should be able to serve. (Baldor, 3/1)
