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University To Fund Students’ Gender Reassignment Surgeries

University To Fund Students’ Gender Reassignment Surgeries
6/14/2016
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Susan Dutca-Lovell

Students at Vanderbilt University will soon have their sex-reassignment surgeries covered under a new student health-care plan. Without insurance, many individuals are unable to pay for hormones, surgeries and counseling necessary for the transition. From sex-reassignment to breast augmentation, college and universities are taking steps to make their students feel comfortable and more respected.

The desire for more trans inclusivity does not come without opposition from the Tennessee's Republican-led legislature. Rep. Diane Black released her statement, criticizing the "painfully obvious lack of common sense," since "[our] institutions of higher learning exist to graduate students who are career ready and are prepared to compete in the global economy, not to play politics by providing insurance coverage of medically unnecessary procedures while raking in federal grants." Schools such as Ohio University, which already have expanded transgender health coverage, pay an additional $120,000 yearly.

Medicare lifted its ban on coverage for sex-reassignment surgery in May of 2014. Since then, 72 colleges and universities have implemented the plan. Vanderbilt will cover services such as hormone-replacement therapy and other transgender-related operations. Schools with existing policies, such as the University of Arizona, pay for hormone therapy, orchiectomy, and genital reconstructive surgery. VU will be the first university in Tennessee to offer surgery coverage, making it a leader in the movement.

Transgender students have voiced their discontent with schools unwilling to accommodate their health needs. RJ Robles, a transgender graduate student at Vanderbilt Divinity School, was devastated when he found out that breast augmentation was not covered by student health insurance. "I was going to basically have to put my transition on hold," he claimed. Robles is "really proud of the Vanderbilt community for stepping up" and feels like trans students are finally being "celebrated, valued, respected, heard and seen."

According to Cynthia Cyrus, Vice Provost for Learning and Residential Affairs at Vanderbilt, the decision came to pass in a "relatively non-controversial" manner and "not deeply debated in any way." Students at VU claim that there was no debate to begin with and there "was no organized opposition to this policy because [the students] had no idea that such a policy was even being considered." VU later admitted to Fox 17 that the decision (for now) is merely a "political statement," but a "reasonable move in the right direction."

In your opinion, should colleges and universities be covering students' sex-reassignment surgeries, as well as cosmetic surgeries?

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