I’m back in Austin Free Press with coverage of the latest attacks on trans rights in the Texas legislature. Among the bills up for a vote today, HB 778, which has already passed the Senate, could make gender-affirming care prohibitively expensive, or even impossible to access for some residents due to how it could affect insurance.
Local advocates for equality are fighting back as the rights of LGBTQ+ Texans are under attack again at the Texas Legislature – including by a bill up for a key House vote today.
A bill-tracking site maintained by the nonprofit Equality Texas shows that lawmakers filed more than 200 anti-LGBTQ+ bills before the March 14 filing deadline. Most of those bills, which mainly target the rights of trans people, never will reach Governor Greg Abbott’s desk. But a few are marching through the legislature, which ends its current sessions on May 30.
One top concern of the trans community is SB 240, which would restrict transgender people’s use of bathrooms or locker rooms in such public places as schools, domestic violence shelters, prisons or government buildings.
Another priority is SB 1257, affecting how insurance companies cover transgender patient care. Opponents say that bill could raise the costs of gender-affirming care – or even cause companies to stop covering it altogether.
SB 1257 would direct insurers to cover the costs of reversing or countering the effects of gender-affirming care for people who regret receiving it. It would extend the time that patients have to report adverse effects from gender-affirming care beyond that of other kinds of healthcare, in an attempt to discourage insurance companies for covering this care.
