Nevada’s Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has signed a bill requiring all insurance companies and Medicaid to cover gender-affirming care, including surgery, for both kids and adults. The law also bans insurance companies from engaging in certain discrimination based on gender identity or expression. There are no religious exemptions for businesses or healthcare providers. All employers are required to adhere to the Standards of Care from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Lombardo has not published a press release about signing the bill nor has he tweeted about it. But he told reporters that all the bill does is mandate the insurance industry to continue following existing state policy. According to The Nevada Globe, the bill passed along party lines without a single Republican voting in its favor. Some believe Lombardo signed the bill in hopes it would sway Democrats to support funding for the construction of a new major league baseball stadium on the Las Vegas Strip for the A’s, who are planning a move to the city from Oakland, California. A 2020 report from USA Today said Nevada passed 34+ laws to protect LGBTQ+ people between 2009 and 2019 and has no laws that deny LGBTQ+ people rights. Not surprisingly, it also has one of the highest percentages of LGBTQ+ people in the country.
#Trans Rights