Essay
My bill would allow trans, nonbinary or queer/intersex people to be able to receive gender affirming care such as hormones, hormone blockers, and gender affirming care, under insurance so they would not have to pay out of pocket. This bill is important and should be passed because it would also be significant for queer/trans people mental health due to the suicide rates and rates of depression and anxiety because of the lack of gender care. Ranging from 32%-50% of trans adults commit suicide because lack of gender care. Along with that it would leave people out of debt and allow communities to put their money elsewhere. Cost of healthcare is between $6,900 and $63,400, that amount of money especially for queer youth going into adulthood could be useful and would allow that amount of money to go to other important things such as housing which would prevent homelessness (especially because the increasing amount of trans/queer kids quicker out of home), along with transportation, food, and other medical necessities. Another big point is that only 1% of people regret transitioning, which compared to medically necessary surgeries is 13% less, with medically necessary surgeries at 14.4%. A specific example would be women getting mastectomies due to risk of developing breast cancer, not that that surgery isn’t extremely helpful and important, but studies have shown that between 5% to 14% of those women regret getting the surgery compared to transgender people. Not only would this bill help protect intersex people (specifically children) from having gender affirming help, but it would also be a source of education for young intersex children that are still unaware or undecided of their path within gender. Along with that gender care for children is a incredibly difficulty to navigate but I believe that when children are done with puberty which for girls is 8-14 and for boys it is 9-15, so I believe that children after the age of puberty should be able to receive hormones, hormone blockers and mental health assistance, the only reason I say just those is because gender affirming care is a extensive process and care that teenagers might not be accustomed to do on their own. I will say if under certain circumstances children could be able to if they have supportive parents that are willing to take them through the needed circumstances such as making sure the surgeries would be covered by insurance, which this bill would permit. Along with that my only issue against anyone under 16v getting gender affirming surgery is just the fact that I believe your body should have gone through puberty considering gender affirming cote is in a way a second version of puberty. I am passionate about this bill, because I myself am transgender youth, and I know the difficulty of being oppressed and fighting the daily mental and physical battles that you have to fight as a transgender person. Along with that it would help like I stated mentally which is a very serious issue within queer youth in general like facing diagnosed medical gender dysphoira, but also a higher rate to develop other body issues such as anorexia nervosa, bullimia, and tiger eating disorders which puts them at a even higher risk for suicide and need of mental assistance. Not only eating disorders but transgender/gender queer people are six times more likely to have a personality or anxiety disorder, are three times more likely to need medication such as anxiety medications and depression medications, and are six times more likely to attempt suicide resulting in the need for hospitalization (according to yales school of public health). As stated, allowing gender affirming care in all ways would help prevent more health/mental health issues that might result in an even bigger risk of sucide/need for hospitalization.