Pennsylvania:
Protect Trans Healthcare in CHIP and Medicaid!

  

We need your help to protect transgender healthcare coverage in CHIP and Medicaid.

On Monday, November 20, 2017, HB 1933 was introduced and passed by the House Health Committee. This bill would BAN healthcare coverage for trans children and teens in CHIP and all those in Medicaid in Pennsylvania. We expect the House to vote on this bill as soon as Monday, December 4th.

This is a cruel bill which would be devastating to trans Pennsylvanians – children and adults alike – and their families who are on these programs. Since July 2016, CHIP has included coverage for gender-related healthcare, including mental healthcare services, hormones, and essential surgeries. If this amended bill becomes law, it would cut off trans youth on CHIP from vital healthcare. That is unconscionable.

You can view the new bill to ban trans healthcare in CHIP and Medical Assistance here.

We need your help to stop this bill from becoming law.

1. Contact your State Representative to ask they vote AGAINST HB 1933 and all efforts to ban any transgender healthcare coverage in Pennsylvania.  You can identify your State Representative and find their contact information on the General Assembly’s website here.

Sample Phone Call: “Hello. My name is _______ and I am a constituent from _______. I am calling today to urge Representative _______ to support basic healthcare coverage for transgender children and teens using CHIP and all those in Medicaid. As HB 1933 is voted on the House floor, I ask Representative _______ to support any action to defeat this cruel bill.”

Send an email to your State Representative through the ACLU of Pennsylvania’s action page here.

 

2. Direct all trans youth and their families that you may know to complete this form to share short testimonials on why healthcare coverage is important. We need to collect as many stories and testimonies as possible in a very short time frame. Please send stories in ASAP, no later than Saturday, December 2nd at 12:00pm.

3. Encourage all healthcare professionals who serve trans youth and adults to sign this important letter. We must demonstrate support from the healthcare community in Pennsylvania that trans healthcare is medically-necessary and that the consequences of this bill becoming law would be devastating. Please urge all healthcare providers you know to sign on ASAP, no later than Friday, December 1st at 6:00pm.

 

PYC’s Trans Leadership Union with Acting Secretary of Health and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine at PYC Headquarters in Harrisburg (March 2017)

 

For reference