An increasing number of American employers provide insurance benefits that will pay for sex-change procedures for employees, a new survey shows.
According to the 2022 survey of 502 U.S. employers—conducted by the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans (IFEBP)—gender-transition procedures covered by the insurance plans include sex-change surgeries, cross-sex hormone treatments, and cosmetic surgery.
Medical attempts at sex changes often cause urinary issues, loss of sexual pleasure and libido, permanent voice changes, pelvic bleeding and pain, the need for secondary procedures, bladder injury, blood clots, emotional issues, osteoporosis, heart problems, weight gain, diabetes, infertility, and the need for lifelong medical care, doctors and detransitioners have told The Epoch Times.
Yet, of the 30 percent of company insurance benefit plans that offer irreversible transgender procedures, 13 percent don’t cover mental health counseling before or after those surgeries, said Anne Patterson, IFEBP associate director of public relations.
The foundation didn’t collect data on whether the companies’ insurance policies would cover care for sex-change side effects, she said.
The survey also didn’t ask whether the insurance plans would cover detransition procedures for employees who change their minds and hope to reverse the sex change as much as possible.
And it didn’t have data on whether the employer-provided insurance plans cover sex-change attempts for employees’ children.
While nearly a third of company insurance plans cover transgender modifications, only 2 percent cover cosmetic surgery not related to transgender procedures, Patterson told The Epoch Times in an email interview.
“Offering gender-affirmation health care benefits is a way for employers to remain competitive in attracting and retaining talent,” said Julie Stitch, the IFEBP’s vice president of content, in a press release. “This type of offering reinforces a culture of inclusion and belonging.”
Surge in ‘Gender-Affirming’ Benefits
The IFEBP survey shows big changes in benefits trends in just six years.In 2016, just 8 percent of employers offered health insurance plans with coverage for sex-change surgery. By 2022, that number rose to 27 percent of employers.
Allowable surgeries range from breast amputation to creating the appearance of a male appendage using harvested arm tissue.
In 2016, 9 percent of employer-offered plans offered cross-sex hormone coverage. By 2022, it was up to 25 percent.
Health plans for employees of corporations and governments offered transgender modifications at about the same rate.
And while 30 percent of companies confirmed to researchers they offer health insurance with sex-change coverage, they also revealed that other treatments—including potentially lifesaving procedures—were offered at far lower rates.
Only 18.3 percent said they offer critical illness or cancer coverage, and 8.3 percent offer long-term care coverage. Only 13 percent said their employee healthcare plans cover laser eye surgery 15.5 cover gene therapy, and 22.1 percent cover prescription weight-loss medications
Contraception also was found to be far more likely to be covered than fertility treatments.
Among employers that offer “transgender-inclusive benefits,” the government entities surveyed offer health care plans with the most coverage for transgender procedures.
Breast amputation surgery costs between $10,000 and $20,000. Genital sex-change surgery can cost up to $150,000 and often requires lifelong follow-up and medical care. Cross-sex hormones can cost between $30 and $100 a month.
The complications from phalloplasty—which attempts to create a male appendage—brought Newgent into “near-death experiences” multiple times, Newgent shared on TreVoices.org.
And the number of transgender-identifying individuals will surge, too, researchers predict.
Past surveys by the IFEBP show the biggest jump in transgender healthcare coverage happened between 2016 and 2018, and it has continued to increase.
Increasingly, many corporations choose to put their resources into support of transgender ideology. The pressure to do so comes from a variety of sources.
And providing coverage for transgender procedures makes it more likely many more people will undergo attempts to transition, experts say.
