Brown University’s student health plan will cover 14 different sex change procedures that insurance companies have labeled 'cosmetic'

  • The move makes Brown one of a select group of schools and healthcare providers throughout the U.S. to cover those surgeries
  • The change is part of a broader attempt to make the university's policies more inclusive of transgender students

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 02:06 EST, 9 February 2013 | Updated: 02:07 EST, 9 February 2013

Prestigious Ivy League school Brown University is getting ready to make a big change to its student health plan come August.

The university, located in Providence, Rhode Island, will begin offering coverage for 14 different sexual reassignment surgery procedures.

The move makes Brown one of a select group of schools and healthcare providers throughout the U.S. to cover those surgeries, The Brown Daily Herald reports.

Healthcare changes: Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island, will begin offering coverage for 14 different sexual reassignment surgery procedures.

Healthcare changes: Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island, will begin offering coverage for 14 different sexual reassignment surgery procedures.

‘We identified this as an important benefit for students to have access to,’ Brown’s Director of Insurance and Purchasing Services, Jeanne Hebert, wrote in an email to the university’s student newspaper.

She said the change to the health plan was in line with the university’s ‘efforts to support all students.’

For female-to-male surgeries, the new coverage plan will include ‘mastectomy, hysterectomy, salpingo-oophorectomy, vaginectomy, metoidioplasty, scrotoplasty, urethroplasty, placement of testicular prostheses (and) phalioplasty,’ Hebert said.

For male-to-female surgeries, coverage will include ‘orchiectomy, penectomy, vaginoplasty, clitoroplasty (and) labiaplasty.’

The coverage for the sex change operations will be funded through renewal rates paid for 2014’s student healthcare coverage, Hebert said.

The total package of sexual reassignment surgeries, hormone therapy and other services could cost up to an estimated $50,000.

The university’s LGBTQ Center coordinator, Kelly Garrett, has strongly advocated the change to the student health plan for the past several years, she said, adding that one of the biggest accomplishments through her group’s efforts has been the inclusion of hormone treatment in the current school year’s coverage plan.

The sexual reassignment procedures that will be covered by the university are ’very standard and very comprehensive,’ Garrett told The Herald.

'Standard procedures': The sexual reassignment procedures that will be covered by the university are 'very standard and very comprehensive,' The university¿s LGBTQ Center coordinator, Kelly Garrett, said

'Standard procedures': The sexual reassignment procedures that will be covered by the university are 'very standard and very comprehensive,' The university¿s LGBTQ Center coordinator, Kelly Garrett, said

Up until now, transgender students were often barred from treatment due to high costs, she said.

‘I know people where it’s taken them 10 years because they needed to save money,’ said Garrett.

The university’s LGBTQ Center was unable to provide statistics on how many transgender students are at Brown.

Garret said that is because it is difficult to get accurate data due to self-reporting of students’ genders and the nature of some gender-identity changes that occur during their time in college.

Doctors have declared the sexual reassignment procedures medically necessary, said Garrett.

However, insurance companies have traditionally labelled them cosmetic and have excluded them from coverage around the country, she said.

Without access to hormones and surgery, transgender students may ‘face discrimination’ as others may not accept their ‘gender identity and presentation,’ said Garret.

Brown has not yet decided whether the added coverage will be extended to the staff health insurance plan, Garrett told The Herald.

‘The insurance plans are completely separate, so we’re in the discussion,’ she said.

Unique move: The move makes Brown one of a select group of schools and healthcare providers throughout the U.S. to cover those surgeries

Unique move: The move makes Brown one of a select group of schools and healthcare providers throughout the U.S. to cover those surgeries


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