Minnesota public benefits and gender reassignment

As far back as the 1970s, Minnesota's State-funded medical programs, particularly Medical Assistance (MA), covered a range of services related to the gender transitioning, including counseling, hormones, and surgery. Beginning in 1994, the year after protections for discrimination on the basis of gender identity were added to the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the Legislature has been working to narrow the scope of coverage.

On July 14, 2005, Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed into law the omnibus health and human services bill that included provisions stating that for both the GAMC and MA programs, "sex reassignment surgery is not a covered service." The law came into effect August 1.

Under the new law, it is currently not disputed that the State will cover gender-related counseling services and hormone therapy. However, the State no longer accepts requests for gender-reassignment surgery itself.

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