Since the beginning of the year, the University of Arkansas has been offering insurance coverage that paid for gender transitions for school staff. But starting next month, it’s dropping that feature in its healthcare policies.
The move comes after a federal judge in Texas issued a court order barring anti-discrimination protections former President Barack Obama added to the Affordable Care Act. The protections applied to transgender health and abortion-related services, and District Judge Reed O’Connor struck them down on December 31. O’Connor says the regulation would force the plaintiffs “to perform and provide insurance coverage for gender transitions and abortions, regardless of their contrary religious beliefs or medical judgment.”
The University of Arkansas decided to implement the coverage starting January 1, but now has announced that it will drop the coverage on March 6. Richard Ray, director of benefits at the university, sent an email to the school staff explaining the decision. “On December 31 the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction.” he wrote. “More specifically the injunction prohibits health and human services from enforcing regulations addressing gender identity.” Ray also said the decision was made because of “frequent changes and uncertainty of the regulations.”
Carla Combs, a board member for the Tennessee Equality Project, said the decision left her “aggravated, irritated, agitated and enraged.” Combs also said that some staff members “are transgender and were counting on these new 2017 benefits.” She also added that the school wasn’t being forced to do this, but was choosing to as an “opportunity to discriminate.”
Currently, only 75 universities offer transition coverage for students and only 46 offer it for staff members. Arkansas is by no means an outlier here when it comes to refusing to offer the coverage, but making such an abrupt change after only offering it for three months is what has people like Combs so upset.