Monthly Archives: December 2015

Comment on Proposed National Coverage Determination – Gender Dysphoria and Gender Reassignment Surgery

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on December 3, 2015 that the agency was, at the behest of an outside petitioner, considering a new National Coverage Determination (NCD) for gender dysphoria and gender reassignment surgery. This NCD would replace the previous NCD from 1989, which categorically excluded coverage for “transsexual surgery” because it was “experimental” and “controversial,” based in part on Janice Raymond’s attack on transgender women, Transsexual Empire. This prior NCD was found to be invalid by the Department of Health and Human Service’s Departmental Appeals Board in May 2014.

This left a vacuum; transition-related care was no longer categorically excluded, but could be excluded by local coverage determinations. A new NCD would fill this void and hopefully ensure that regardless of where they live, Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries will have access to any and all medically necessary transition-related care. To that end, I filed a comment clearly showing the weight of scientific support for transition-related care and reminding CMS that applicable statutes require such a NCD be issued. The scientific research list was developed from http://www.cakeworld.info/transsexualism/what-helps/hormones and http://www.cakeworld.info/transsexualism/what-helps/srs, which includes the abstracts from each of the papers.

On December 3, 2015, CMS initiated a review to determine whether health outcomes are improved from treatment for gender dysphoria and “gender reassignment surgery.” The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence indicate that treatments for gender dysphoria, up to and including gender affirming surgeries, improve health outcomes for transgender patients. More fundamentally, CMS does not have a choice in whether or not to cover treatments for gender dysphoria; prior coverage exclusions were based upon unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex, which the Affordable Care Act has reiterated is illegal.

The scientific evidence is easy to find, with studies routinely concluding that interventions such as hormone replacement therapy and gender affirming surgeries have benefits to transgender patients.

See, e.g.:

Frankly, in light of the weight of scientific evidence, failing to issue a national coverage determination for treatments of gender dysphoria would be an arbitrary and capricious abuse of agency discretion.

Failing to issue a national coverage determination would also violate 42 U.S.C. § 18116 (§1557 of the Affordable Care Act). The section covers CMS activities as an Executive Branch agency, and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in health programs or activities such as a national coverage determination. This prohibition has correctly been construed as including discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Rumble v. Fairview Health Services, 2015 WL 1197415 (D. Minn. Mar. 16, 2015), available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-mnd-0_14-cv-02037/pdf/USCOURTS-mnd-0_14-cv-02037-0.pdf.

CMS’s previous denial of coverage for gender dysphoria was based upon animus towards transgender people and bigoted views towards treatment options for gender dysphoria, deciding against coverage in part because treatment for transgender people was “controversial.” The 1981 memorandum justifying the prior national coverage determination, now rescinded as invalid by the Departmental Appeals Board, relied heavily upon the book Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male by Janice Raymond. The book is well known as an anti-transgender screed (for instance, Ms. Raymond describes the mere existence of transgender women as a rape of cisgender women’s bodies).

CMS has an obligation to correct its past bigotry. Failing to remedy CMS’s history of discrimination towards transgender people with a new national coverage determination would continue unlawful discrimination against transgender people on the basis of their gender identity. Accordingly, CMS must issue a new national coverage determination, including coverage for all medically necessary transition-related care.

TSA AIT Scanners – Meeting Request to OIRA

This afternoon I submitted a meeting request to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Executive Office of the President to discuss TSA’s unconstitutional program of singling out transgender travelers for extra scrutiny and abuse based on cissexist assumptions about anatomy. PDF available.

The Honorable Howard Shelanski
Administrator
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503

Re: RIN 1652-AA67 – Passenger Screening Using Advanced Imaging Technology

Dear Administrator Shelanski:

As a transgender woman who occasionally flies for work and personal affairs, I have grave concerns with the draft final rule submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from the Transportation Security Administration on November 19, 2015. Put succinctly, the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners unconstitutionally place undue scrutiny on transgender travelers because of cissexist assumptions about anatomy. Rather than being an occasional flaw in the system, the harassment of transgender travelers by TSA is designed into the system from the bottom up.

As you may be aware, the scanner is designed with a simple interface. An example, provided by the Department of Homeland Security,[1] appears below.

The scanner requires that a TSA employee press a pink or blue button, corresponding to the perceived gender expression of the traveler to be scanned. The traveler has no opportunity to ensure that they have been “read” correctly in a manner consistent with their gender identity and anatomy; they must hope that the TSA agent correctly discerns these things. This process is arbitrary, mistake-prone, and places an unconstitutional burden on transgender travelers to dress in a manner most likely to elicit a correct button press by government agents.

Once the button has been pressed, the AIT scanner is calibrated for certain anatomical assumptions. These assumptions are cissexist and fail to account for the existence of transgender bodies. If the agent presses the blue button, the AIT scanner assumes that the traveler will have a penis and no breasts. If the agent presses the pink button, the AIT scanner assumes the traveler will not have a penis but will have breasts. These assumptions are based in the cissexist logic that all men have penises and no women do, and similarly that no men have breasts and all women do. This logic is factually incorrect and places an unconstitutional burden on transgender travelers to explain their anatomy to uncaring government agents.

To solve this problem, TSA has proposed changing the word used for when the scanner detects something it was not programmed for from “anomaly” to “alarm.”

Meanwhile, TSA has also implemented a new policy for AIT scanner use. Under prior policy, any person had the ability to opt-out of the AIT scanner and be scanned physically. Many transgender travelers did so, rightly anticipating problems if they were to use the AIT scanner; while Ms. Shadi Petosky’s experience may be the most well-publicized,[2] she is far from alone in experiencing hellacious treatment by government agents for simply attempting to travel while transgender. Under the new policy announced on December 18, 2015, “TSA may direct mandatory AIT screening for some passengers.”[3] Now, not only is AIT screening the default, but it is mandatory for “some” passengers, with no indication of how this new authority will be used. Given TSA’s history of harassing transgender travelers, we are justified in being concerned.

If TSA wishes to maintain its AIT screening program, it must update the screening software and hardware so that is no longer based on government agents guessing the gender of travelers and so that it no longer assumes that all bodies are cisgender. Furthermore, while the AIT scanners continue to impose these unconstitutional burdens on transgender travelers, all travelers must have an unquestioned right to opt-out of the AIT scanner in favor of a physical screening.

I look forward to discussing this issue with your staff.

Sincerely,

Emily T. Prince, Esq.

[1] Department of Homeland Security, “Privacy Impact Assessment Update for TSA Advanced Imaging Technology,” DHS/TSA/PIA-032(d), Dec. 18, 2015, http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy-tsa-pia-32-d-ait.pdf.

[2] See http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/9/22/one-trans-womans-tsa-horror-story, http://www.salon.com/2015/09/22/shadi_petosky_was_detained_by_tsa_for_traveling_while_trans_the_police_at_the_tsa_gate_were_awful_one_was_laughing_at_me/, http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/transgender-woman-says-she-was-delayed-tsa-anatomical-anomaly-n431326, http://www.newsweek.com/shadi-petosky-transgender-woman-alleges-unfair-screening-tsa-orlando-airport-375220, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/us/shadi-petosky-tsa-transgender.html?_r=0.

[3] “Privacy Impact Assessment Update for TSA Advanced Imaging Technology”, supra note 1.

TSA Creates New Mandatory Screening Process “For Some Passengers”

On December 18, 2015, TSA issued a Privacy Impact Assessment relating to a change in TSA policy regarding the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners, which have TSA agents identify passengers as male or female (“blue” or “pink”) and then flag any “anomalies” on their bodies, including body parts. These scanners are programmed to discriminate against transgender passengers, as they do not account for transgender anatomy. Some passengers have chosen to bypass the AIT scanner in favor of a physical screening, but under the new policy, “TSA may direct mandatory AIT screening for some passengers.”

Concerned about the impact of this policy on transgender passengers, I wrote TSA.

Dear Ms. Vaughan,

On December 18, 2015, your office issued the above-referenced Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Update for TSA Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) (DHS/TSA/PIA-032(d)). That document revealed “a change to the operating protocol regarding the ability of individuals to opt-out of AIT screening in favor of physical screening.” Pursuant to this change, “TSA may direct mandatory AIT screening for some passengers.”

This is a sweeping change, and the PIA fails to explain its potential impact. I am particularly concerned with how TSA’s new authority will be used against transgender passengers, who already suffer rampant discrimination at the hands of TSA officials. The AIT screening process is demonstrably discriminatory against transgender passengers; the scanners use a blue button and a pink button which is selected by TSA officials. The buttons calibrate the machine for cisgender anatomy and often flag “anomalies” when presented with the anatomy of transgender passengers, such as a woman (pink button) who has a penis, or a man (blue button) who has breasts. Because which button is pressed is at the discretion of the TSA agent, “anomalies” may also be flagged if the agent incorrectly genders an individual, such as pressing the blue button for a woman. Previously, some transgender passengers chose to avoid this discriminatory screening process by opting for the physical screening, but under the new procedure, they may no longer have that opportunity.

Accordingly, I have the following question: what assurances do transgender travelers have that this new authority will not be used to harass them, especially in light of TSA’s woeful record of discrimination against transgender people?

Sincerely,
— Emily T. Prince, Esq.

Emily Esque

Fighting for Justice through Bureaucratic Black Magic

Monthly Archives: December 2015

Comment on Proposed National Coverage Determination – Gender Dysphoria and Gender Reassignment Surgery

TSA AIT Scanners – Meeting Request to OIRA

TSA Creates New Mandatory Screening Process “For Some Passengers”