Findings from University of California Irvine Reveals New Findings on Law and Society (Health Insurance Rights and Access To Health Care for Trans People: the Social Construction of Medical Necessity): Legal Issues – Law and Society

2021 DEC 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Researchers detail new data in Legal Issues - Law and Society. According to news reporting originating from Irvine, California, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Health care rights for transgender and/or nonbinary people have dramatically expanded in recent years, including in insurance coverage for the treatments and procedures they need. Yet, trans people themselves still identify health insurance problems as a top priority for research and policy change because of significant difficulties gaining and using coverage.”

Financial supporters for this research include National Science Foundation (NSF), Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of California Irvine, “Wrangling over coverage determinations happens through multiple types of interactions, bureaucratic, interpersonal, and medical. When these interactions become difficult, it is because key terms such as medical necessity are both powerful and indeterminate. This study examines how trans people and health care intermediaries navigate the health insurance process and contest the meaning of medical necessity in coverage determinations. These disputes constitute the ground-level reality for instantiating health care rights to gender affirming care. Relying on analysis of contract language and 32 interviews with people who sought gender-affirming care and allied professionals, we find that health insurance policy language, interpretation, and implementation often create disadvantages and barriers for trans people who attempt to access care.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Our study highlights how the contested life of insurance policy terminology produces a reality for rights but also details the mechanisms through which insurance-mediated care is a socially contested and negotiated process.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Health Insurance Rights and Access To Health Care for Trans People: the Social Construction of Medical Necessity. Law & Society Review, 2021;55(4):539-562. Law & Society Review can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Law & Society Review - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5893)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Shauhin Talesh, University of California Irvine, School of Law, 4801 E Peltason Dr, Ste 4800L, Irvine, CA 92697, United States. Additional authors for this research include Anna Kirkland and Angela K. Perone.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12575. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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