The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today (Monday, April 29) affirmed two lower court rulings ordering North Carolina and West Virginia to end discriminatory exclusions for coverage of gender-affirming medical care for transgender people, Lambda Legal has announced.
The full panel of the circuit court ruled in favor of the trans plaintiffs in two separate lawsuits, finding that the two states’ denial of coverage for medical care is discriminatory and unconstitutional, according to a Lambda Legal press release.
In Kadel v. Folwell — brought by Lambda Legal and the Transgender Legal Defense Fund with HWG, LLP and McDermott — Will & Emery LLP, plaintiffs challenged North Carolina’s categorical exclusion of coverage for gender-affirming medical care for trans government employees and their dependents enrolled in the state health plan.
The second suit, Anderson (previously Fain) v. Crouch, was filed in 2020 by Lambda Legal, Nichols Kaster PLLP and the Employment Law Center PLLC challenging West Virginia’s exclusion of coverage for gender-confirming surgical care for low income trans people enrolled in Medicaid.
Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Tara Borelli, the lead lawyer on both lawsuits, said, “We are pleased with the Court’s decision, which will save lives. It confirms that discriminating against transgender people by denying critical medical care is not only wrong but unconstitutional. No one should be denied essential health care, but our clients in both cases were denied coverage for medically necessary care prescribed by their doctors just because they’re transgender.”
This ruling sets a clear precedent not just for North Carolina and West Virginia but to all jurisdictions within the Fourth Circuit, including South Carolina, where legislators are considering a discriminatory healthcare ban.
Learn more about Kadel v. Folwell here, and more about Anderson v. Crouch here.
— Tammye Nash
