How Long?

Now that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has advocated for real help for transpeople who want to transition than simply moralizing about the mental state of a transperson, and supporting changes in health insurance policies to cover the treatment of a transition, namely therapy, drugs and most importantly sex reassignment surgery (SRS), how long will before the insurance companies remove the exclusion for the treatment and include the treatment in the policies?

The Obama administration advocated for similar measures for the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan (FEHB) to cover the treatment in 2010, and federal employees and retirees in transition or wanting to transition are still waiting for the changes in the rules issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and then compliance in the policies by the companies with the FEHB rules.

And we expect a better or faster response from the private market insurance companies? We know many employers have included the cost of treatment in their policies either directly with the employer or as a rider to the policies available to the employees. But that was only because the employers demanded and implemented it, not the companies.

And even then they still have to change the surgeons, none of whom accept insurance to cover the SRS. You always pay full up front and file a claim if you have the coverage. Only some countries outside the US cover transition care with SRS as part of their patient care.

To borrow from Ambrosia, "How Long (Has This Been Going On)?" How long before the health insurance pamphlet you get doesn't include the language, "Sex transformation treatment excluded" but includes the language "all medically prescribed sex transformation treatment and surgeries covered"?