The University's health-insurance policy may be in violation of its nondiscrimination policy, many members of the Penn community say.
Currently, the University employee-benefits program does not cover sexual reassignment surgery, but it is in direct violation of its nondiscrimination policy by not covering these procedures, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center associate director Erin Cross wrote in an e-mail.
She likened it to not covering treatment for race-specific diseases.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, emphasized that gender reassignment amounts to far more than merely one surgery.
Rather, the process includes hormone injections and lab tests, and sometimes prosthetics, hair removal and mental-health services.
Each of these individual procedures falls under the term "transition-related care" and may be covered by health insurance, but not when one - supposedly transgendered - person requires all at once, she said.
"Because of the way exceptions are written, very often trans people get excluded from gender-specific care," Keisling added.
For example, she said, some transgendered people may at times require both a mammogram and a prostate exam. Their policies, which would normally cover each procedure on its own, claim these exams are "transgender related," and thus they refuse to cover either.
Lambda Alliance chairman and College junior Dennie Zastrow called failing to cover the costs of the procedure "a perfect example of the discrimination the community still faces."
But Division of Human Resources spokeswoman Terri Ryan disagreed that the policy was discriminatory.
She wrote in an e-mail that, because the procedure is denied to all plan participants, it is not in violation of the nondiscrimination policy, which guarantees the same coverage "regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or [veteran status]."
She added that through a survey, Penn determined that few other Ivy League universities cover the surgery.
Mercer, one of Penn's consulting firms, estimated that only about 2.3 percent of employers cover the procedure, based on data collected in October and November 2007 by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
Still, Ryan said Penn must strike a balance between the most extensive coverage possible and the need to control costs. She added that the cost of including reassignment surgery in the current insurance plan would be substantial.
Cross disagreed. She said the cost of treating the severe depression or suicidal tendencies associated with some patients amounts to more than that of the procedure.
Although Lambda has no concrete plans in place to address the issue, Zastrow said the group has discussed bringing the greater issue of campus climate to the Undergraduate Assembly and intends to focus largely on transgender-related issues throughout the semester.
"It is a critical time in our country for individuals in need of health insurance coverage," said School of Law lecturer Stacey Sobel. "Transgender people deserve the same access to ensure that their health care needs are covered as any other employee."
