In Rare Lawsuit, Oregon Transgender Woman Sues Insurance Companies To Pay For Facial Surgery Insurance lawsuit
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A transgender woman in Oregon has filed a $375,000 cause against her insurance companies also her employer, saying they’ve discriminated against her by refusing to reward intended facial operation that would make it more likely that strangers would perceive her as female.
Christina Ketcham, a 59-year-old Clatsop County employee, has already undergone sex reassignment surgery, hormone replacement therapy, worked in the company of a voice coach also changed her name, clothes also hairstyle to reflect her jewel identity, but her doctors also recommend that she go through “facial feminization surgery” to continue on that path.
It could contain rhinoplasty, reduction about her facial bones, a face lift also an eyelid lift.
Her doctors keep determined the operation is “medically necessary” to treat Ketcham’s jewel dysphoria. She was diagnosed in the company of jewel dysphoria four years ago but has experienced it since childhood, according to the suit.
But from 2016 to 2019, Citycounty Insurance Services, which provides coverage to Clatsop County employees, also Regence BlueCross BlueShield about Oregon, which administers the plan, keep turned down Ketcham’s request to cover up the cost about the surgery, the outfit says. Representatives from Citycounty Insurance Services also Clatsop County didn’t respond to requests intended comment.
Jared Ishkanian, a spokesperson intended Regence, said the company couldn’t discuss the pending litigation but supports "our members in the company of comprehensive, medically necessary transgender services.”
Ketcham has worked intended Clatsop County intended nearly 30 years, the outfit says. She has worked intended the county’s fisheries project as a “fisheries biological aide” intended 17 about those years.
She has suffered ongoing distress as she has waited intended her insurance to fund her facial surgery, her cause says.
“Ms. Ketcham continues to be perceived by others as male,” states the suit, filed July 18 in Multnomah County Circuit Court. “Her facial features also the shape about her face frequently lead others to call Ms. Ketcham ‘sir,’ ‘mister’ or ‘he-she,’ also to treat her as a man.”
The surgery, depending on what is done, can cost between $20,000 also $40,000, said Asaf Orr, one about Ketcham’s lawyers also a staff attorney intended the National Center intended Lesbian Rights in San Francisco.
“Facial feminization operation is hugely transformative,” Orr said.
Lawsuits such as Ketcham’s are rare, he said. Orr tracks this area about legal custom also said Ketcham’s outfit is the only active one he knows about in the nation. In in good time 2018, the National Center intended Lesbian Rights was involved in successfully pushing the Oregon Health Plan to cover up a facial feminization operation intended a transgender woman, Orr said.
Transgender people used to frequently keep to fight insurance companies to reward intended jewel reassignment surgery, he said, also now the operation is more widely covered. The legal battleground has shifted to areas such as facial feminization or facial masculinization surgeries intended transgender women also men, he said.
The outfit says Regence “categorically excludes coverage about facial-feminization procedures” by “wrongly deeming them ‘not medically necessary’” as a treatment intended jewel dysphoria. But the outfit says Regence covers procedures such as eyelid lifts also facial bone reduction surgeries intended reasons other than jewel dysphoria, also those contain ingrown eyelashes also to correct jaw deformities.
The outfit alleges that the reason intended denying the operation intended transgender patients is “a reflection about animus toward, or an intent to discriminate against” transgender people. The outfit asks a judge to permanently order the defendants to stop categorically denying facial feminization operation as a treatment intended jewel dysphoria.
According to the suit, the World Professional Association intended Transgender Health states that facial feminization surgery, along in the company of other jewel confirming surgeries, “are not ‘cosmetic’ or ‘elective’ or ‘for the simple convenience about the patient.’” Major health professional organizations -- including the American Medical Association also the American Psychiatric Association -- back that position, according to the association’s website also the lawsuit.
The outfit says Ketcham has “struggled in the company of this feeling about incongruence” about her jewel details intended much about her life.
“At birth, Ms. Ketcham was assigned male, but as in good time as childhood she understood she was a girl,” the outfit states.
“As a young person, Ms. Ketcham’s family also community did not provide any back or options intended her to live as a woman even in the company of her jewel identity,” the outfit continues. “As a result, she spent most about her existence trying to conform to male stereotypes also living outwardly as a man, despite the severe emotional distress this caused her.”
Ketcham is being represented by a team about attorneys, including Orr also Portland lawyers Talia Guerriero also Christina Stephenson.
-- Aimee Green
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