A bill that would require Maryland’s Medicaid program to provide coverage for gender-affirming treatment for transgender people passed in a Maryland House of Delegates committee on Friday.

The House Health and Government Operations Committee passed the Trans Health Equity Act of 2022 by a 14-8 vote margin. It will proceed to the House floor next week for consideration.

Legislators who sponsored the bill include state Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City), who believes that the committee vote is “a promising step in the right direction.”

“It’s been eight years since we passed legal protections outlawing discrimination against trans people in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations and credit,” she said in an email statement to the Washington Blade. “We are one step closer to enhancing these basic economic civil rights with the passage of a bill that protects the public health and safety of all LGBTQ people.”

Washington also added that the bill will remove barriers within the Medicaid program to cover the full range of gender affirming treatment and procedures for low-income people. 

According to the bill’s revised fiscal and policy note, Medicaid would be required to cover individual procedures that range from less than $800 for voice therapy to more than $25,000 for facial feminization or masculinization surgeries. 

This would increase Medicaid expenditures by $52,743 for individuals who are transitioning from male to female and $52,493 for individuals who are transitioning from female to male. The bill would also increase the number of Medicaid enrollees seeking treatment to 25 people a year, according to the Maryland Department of Health. 

Prior to the vote, the Blade spoke to activists who attended a rally on Thursday in Annapolis in support of the Trans Health Equity Act. 

Trans Maryland, Annapolis Pride and Baltimore Safe Haven, among other advocacy groups, organized the rally.

“It was a beautiful expression of trans resilience and pride at a time when so many states are attacking trans rights,” said Sam Williamson, a Skadden Fellow for Homeless Persons Representation Project, which provides free legal services for low-income persons who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

“This bill will save lives and bring Maryland Medicaid up-to-date with the leading medical standards for gender-affirming care,” they said. 

Other activists also expressed faith in the bill’s future, given its prior success in the Senate. 

“I feel good about it having passed the Senate, which is usually the more difficult chamber to get things out of,” said CP Hoffman, policy director at FreeState Justice, an organization that provides legal services and policy advocacy to trans individuals in the state. 

Hoffman is also a practicing lawyer and member of the Maryland State Bar Association. 

“Usually, I try to stay cautiously optimistic with all bills until they’ve passed every chamber,” they added. 

Optimism among advocacy groups in the state isn’t blind. 

Legal action will be imminent if Republican Gov. Larry Hogan doesn’t sign the bill into law.

“We are considering filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and bringing a federal discrimination action under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act,” said Hoffman.

FreeState Justice in the past has helped pass comprehensive non-discrimination state laws in favor of LGBTQ healthcare provisions.

In 2020, it helped overturn an archaic state law that prohibited nursing homes and hospitals from discriminating on the basis of race or national identity, but not sexuality. It also had health insurance non-discrimination rules, under the Affordable Care Act, written into state law so health insurers can’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, national origin and sex, among other identity markers.