DES MOINES, Iowa - Iowa courts are denying Medicaid coverage for people seeking transgender care.
The state Court of Appeals Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit challenging the state's ability to deny that coverage.
The state legislature passed a law in 2019 that lets the state refuse the use of Medicaid dollars to cover sex transition surgeries.
The lawsuit was brought by the ACLU of Iowa on behalf of two transgender people, Mika Covington and Aiden Vasquez.
Medicaid provides health care coverage for more than 600,000 poor or disabled Iowans. The program uses state and federal money, and is managed and administered by the Iowa Department of Human Services.
A transgender surgery can cost up to $100,000.
The law passed by the legislature was a response to an Iowa Supreme Court decision in 2018 that ruled Iowa’s ban on using Medicaid money for transition care was discriminatory under Iowa Civil Rights Act