San Francisco Board of Supervisors Approves Sex-Change Benefit for City Workers
In a 9-2 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors yesterday approved a plan to provide health care benefits to city workers undergoing sex-change procedures, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports. The decision makes San Francisco the first city in the nation to cover such benefits for its employees. Mayor Willie Brown (D) still needs to sign the measure, which would cap sex-change benefits at $50,000 per person for life. Workers wanting sex-change surgery would pay 15% out of pocket for doctors in the city's health network and 50% for out-of-network physicians. To qualify for the benefits, employees would have to work for the city for at least one year. The benefit would take effect July 1 and would cover male-to-female surgery, which costs about $37,000 and female-to-male surgery, which costs about $77,000 (Mason, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 4/30).
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