Bill targets employers on transgender treatment
TALLAHASSEE -- In a new front in the battle about treatment for transgender people, a Senate Republican on Monday filed a proposal that could lead to some employers being required to cover costs to "reverse" treatment for gender dysphoria.
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, filed the bill (SB 952) for consideration during the legislative session that will start March 7. It comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration blocked Medicaid coverage for treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for people with gender dysphoria.
Also, state medical boards have backed rules that would prevent doctors from providing such treatments to transgender minors. Ingoglia's bill targets employers who provide coverage for gender dysphoria, which the federal government defines clinically as "significant distress that a person may feel when sex or gender assigned at birth is not the same as their identity."
Ingoglia would require employers to cover costs to "reverse" such treatments.
"An employee who received gender dysphoria treatment through coverage provided by an employer is entitled to full coverage by that employer of the total costs associated with treatment that reverses gender dysphoria treatment if the employee later determines that the gender dysphoria treatment was not appropriate for him or her and wants to reverse the treatment, regardless of whether the person is currently employed by that same employer at the time of such determination," the bill said.
Ingoglia indicated the bill is designed to address employers that cover people traveling to other states for gender-affirming care.
"Woke businesses need to be held accountable when offering to pay for gender-affirming surgeries in other states, such as California, because they are nothing more than political decisions masquerading as health care and human resource decisions," Ingoglia said in a prepared statement.
