Judge: NC health plan must cover transgender treatments

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - A federal judge has ordered the North Carolina state employee health plan provide “medically necessary services” for transgender people linked to gender confirmation.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs ruled Friday it was unlawfully biased for the State Health Plan to exclude coverage for such treatments. The plan had offered such coverage in 2017 but stopped doing so afterward.

Monetary damages could be decided after a trial next month.

The office of State Treasurer Dale Folwell oversees the plan. Folwell said he believe the case warranted a jury trial on whether taxpayers should pay for such surgeries.

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