4th Circuit hears arguments over transgender coverage policy

A U.S. appeals court panel was sharply divided on Jan. 25 over whether North Carolina's health insurance plan for state workers can exclude coverage for gender reassignment surgery, hormone therapy and other treatments commonly sought by transgender people, the report says. A lawyer for the state tried to convince a three-judge 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel at oral arguments in Richmond, Virginia, that the exclusion did not amount to unlawful sex discrimination because it applied to specific procedures and not explicitly to transgender people.