The Grind:
The Biden administration has announced the expansion of taxpayer-funded “gender-affirming” healthcare for transgender and “gender diverse” federal employees.
The updated healthcare package was rolled out in early October by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), an independent government agency that acts as the chief of human resources and personnel policy manager for the federal government.
The Details:
The OPM’s “Federal Benefits Open Season” fact sheet for people covered under the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program states that the agency is “pleased to deliver enhanced health benefit offerings” in the form of “gender affirming care and services.”
Beginning in 2023, all FEHB providers will be required to have “adopted one or more recognized entities” in order to guide benefits coverage and medical policies pertaining to “gender affirming care and services,” according to the fact sheet. Among the approved entities are the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care.
Just in recent months, WPATH has come under fire for removing minimum age recommendations for gender transitions to avoid legal ramifications for medical practitioners involved in the process of providing sex-change therapies and surgeries to minors. Read more…