Medicare ordered to consider covering sex-change surgery

Overturning a long-held policy, an appeals board ruled the U.S. Medicare program should consider covering the cost of sex reassignment surgery.

According to Bloomberg, the ruling by the Departmental Appeals Board doesn’t require coverage of all sex reassignment surgeries. Instead, the program can determine whether the procedure is medically appropriate on a case-by-case basis.

Denee Mallon of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a 74-year-old Army veteran, originally contested the policy. Mallon won the appeal after a physician’s order for the surgery was denied.

Medicare didn’t challenge the appeal, which began a year ago, according to the decision.

Read more from Bloomberg.