BOISE, Idaho — A federal lawsuit filed Sept. 29 alleges the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) have participated in discriminatory policies against transgender residents in Idaho by "indefinitely and unreasonably delaying prior authorization of genital reconstruction surgery and coverage determinations for transgender Idaho Medicaid recipients."
The lawsuit, first reported by Idaho Capital Sun, says that two transgender women known as "TB" and "MH", ages 18 and 21, were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and that their doctors recommended gender reassignment surgery to alleviate it.
Gender dysphoria is when someone experiences distress from their gender identity not aligning with their sex assigned at birth.
The two have received transitional hormone therapy and other medical treatments to align her physical characteristics with her gender identity, the complaint says.
The complaint claims that the two women sought gender-affirming surgery through Medicaid to help with their gender dysphoria, but were told by IDHW the surgery is not medically necessary as it is "cosmetic."
The lawsuit says 17 months have now passed since 21-year-old MH requested coverage for her surgery and that IDHW has not provided a final decision on the matter.
Four months have gone by since 18-year-old TB's appeal after she was told the department classified her surgery request as cosmetic. They have not granted a hearing for the appeal, the complaint says.
"...Characterizing the surgery as cosmetic is preventing MH and TB from receiving medically necessary care. Consequently, they have suffered, and are continuing to suffer severe emotional, mental, and psychological distress," the complaint says.
Due to this, the lawsuit says, the defendants are in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S Constitution under the Equal Protection Act and the Affordable Care Act, which "prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in certain health programs and activities," the Department of Health and Human Services states.
The two are being represented by Idaho Legal Aid Services. The lawsuit was filed against Dave Jeppesen, the IDHW director, and Dr. Magni Hamso, the medical director of the Idaho Division of Medicaid.
The complaint says MH was not supported by her family in revealing her true gender identity, so she was able to adopt in to a family that accepted her and was supportive of her.
TB's parents submitted a declaration of support, in which they said that TB has had ongoing mental health issues related to the negative climate surrounding transgender people in Idaho and TB has attempted to take her life once before.
"The long delay in receiving Medicaid approval for her gender affirming surgery has made TB very mentally fragile and I am afraid she will once again lose hope and attempt to take her life," the parent wrote in the declaration. "The official position of the church where our family attends counsels against transitioning including changing the dress, grooming, names and using pronouns. This has alienated TB from the church and resulted in restrictions on her activities compared to other members."
The parent wrote that TB currently facing discrimination preventing enrollment in a local college because the school requires she use her birth name and dress like her assigned sex at birth, and that TB has already faced harassment before college in high school where students openly expressed hateful language towards LBGTQIA+ people.
"There are local Idaho legislators and government officials who have openly supported discrimination against transgender people and are against providing them with legal protections against discrimination in healthcare, employment, and housing. The atmosphere fostered in my community by these officials make us feel we don’t belong in Idaho and they don’t care about TB’s and our well-being and safety," the parent wrote.
The complaint is asking for prohibition of the alleged actions from IDHW in delaying and denying gender-affirming surgery, and to enter a declaratory judgement in the matter that the two women have been discriminated against based on their sex and gender identity.
"This case is a another in a series of successful lawsuits seeking to protect transgender individuals from state sponsored discrimination," Idaho Legal Aid Services said in a press release.
Response from the defendants is required by Oct. 20.
KTVB has not yet received a response from the Dept. of Health and Welfare.
This story will be updated.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist: