I sit here tonight considering the health benefits that may or may not be covered by my employers health plans, and, namely, the plan I selected when I first joined the company. While I am not in a position to name my company, I will say that my employer has scored a 100 on, it pains me to say it, HRC’s (ok I said it, I promise not to say it again in this post) equality index. The score card says that both hormones and office visits are covered. Well, I have already paid out of pocket for both hormones and office visits.
Armed with this new information, I now am beginning the process of getting some of my money back. The hormones are easy. The prescription drug coverage has a great tool that uses my information, including the fact that I biologically male, to estimate what I should have paid. I can now mail in a claims for to get the difference reimbursed. I got covered right away from my sprio, but my estradiol came from a mail order pharmacy that did not ask for my insurance information. I think some people are just used to our medications not being covered that they simply don’t ask.
My next step is going to be tackling the topic of office visits. I do not know for sure if my particular plan covers office visits for transgender treatment. My doctor seems vary wary of submitting claims for transgender treatment, I think she was burned by an insurance company in the past. I don’t know it for sure, but I get that feeling. So, I would have to call my insurance company or my health benefits administrator and ask if it is covered and possibly even ask what codes need to be used by my doctor. I would much rather pay a $20 copay than a $90 out of pocket! I don’t know why I have some issues making this call. I guess it is because I have yet to discuss my trans status with anyone but my spouse and sister-in-law and other people in the transgender community. I guess I don’t want to risk hearing a silence after I ask,”So I wanted to see if office visits are covered for treatment related to being transgender.” While we hope that people will be professional and courteous, we never know for sure until we are in the situation. This would also be the first time that I indicated my status to someone that I did not know.
On a related front I began the process of reaching out to my companies GLBT employee group. I did it somewhat anonymously at this time, using my non-work e-mail address and my chosen name instead of my birth name. I have heard a figure that my company estimates there being about 300 employees who identify as trans. My hope is to get in touch with some of those employees, and learn from their transition experiences at the company. We are pretty well spread out, so there may be some social and geographical differences in their transition experiences, but have a strong policy around transition probably helped those who have transitioned at the company. For all the resources that seem to be out there, most seem to address people who are transitioning at companies with no formal policies. As we see more and more companies implementing policies protecting transitioning employees, I think we need to realize that even employees in companies with policies need some guidance and support. I admit that I an quite nervous about coming out to HR and starting the workplace transition process. I want to find the right time to start planning, but I am not sure how early is too early, or how long I should wait. There are other factors that play into it, such as growing out my hair in a profession that embraces professional appearance. I have a lot more to ponder on that.
With all that is going on around ENDA, I do feel fortunate to be working for a company that supports its transgender employees. The more I look at my own companies policies, the more I think about those who do not have such protections. Ethan St. Pierre mentioned in his most recent podcast about a woman who was fired from a fast food restaurant the day after her manager realized that she was not protected under federal law. As long as we have people and companies like that, we need to continue fighting for protections. We also need to realize that even when we do have protection, there will still be people who will try and fire us because we are transgender. They will use the old excuses of work performance, misconduct, or other violations of company policy, but their reasons will be the same, it will be because we are transgender. Our fight will not end with the passage of legislation, we will simply need to change our focus from educating our legislators to educating employers and employees.
