Report: 4 New Jersey Colleges Offering Gender Identity Disorder Health Coverage

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NJ.com is reporting that four New Jersey public colleges, two of which are relatively local to the Philadelphia area, are offering gender identity disorder coverage for their students as part of a health care plan.

The four colleges—The College of New Jersey, Rowan University, Montclair University and Kean University—will begin offering the coverage to students through United Healthcare starting in the 2015-16 school year. The report indicates that the plan will include “counseling, hormone therapy, and possibly even sex reassignment surgery.”

The article explains that “as per a change in the law in 2013, students are no longer required to have health insurance, but now state colleges and universities are required to offer coverage for full-time students. Individual institutions have their own policies regarding what healthcare coverage students must have.”

Montclair State University’s Brian Edwards, the coordinator of the University’s LGBTQ Center, stated, “By providing these benefits, we also hope to alleviate the health risks of transgender students, which can include depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and poor academic and work performance.”

The program through First Risk Advisors and United Healthcare “will offer health insurance that provides coverage of electrology, genital surgeries and surgeries to change specified secondary sex characteristics.” Of course, counseling and hormone therapy will also be included.