US taxpayers to fund sex-change procedures for federal employees
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Office of Personnel Management has released new guidelines allowing federal agencies to offer coverage for “sex-change” surgeries and procedures to their employees and dependents.
The decision came just two weeks after the Obama administration lifted a ban on federal funding for the procedures through Medicare, meaning that U.S. taxpayers may soon be subsidizing thousands of the costly elective procedures.
In a letter dated June 13, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) notified federal employers that beginning in 2015, it will no longer require federally-subsidized health insurance policies to exclude “services, drugs, or supplies related to sex transformations.” However, the OPM is not yet mandating that such services be covered. Federal employers will be allowed to choose whether or not to offer the coverage, but must notify the OPM in writing of their decision by June 30.
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