By Cristian Alberti. The Rosario Court of Appeals has ordered the IAPOS health insurance provider to respect activist Sandy Sánchez's right to comprehensive healthcare. This is mandated by the Gender Identity Law. Sánchez sued IAPOS, the health insurance provider for employees of the Province of Santa Fe, in January 2016, demanding compliance with Article 11 of the Gender Identity Law, enacted in 2012. The court ruled in her favor in the first instance, ordering that the procedures be performed: buttock augmentation, breast implants, and permanent facial hair removal. IAPOS appealed the initial ruling, but the Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals ultimately upheld its decision last August in a ruling obtained by Presentes . The second instance ruling confirms the first: it not only rejects IAPOS's appeal but also maintains that the health insurance provider must cover the three procedures requested. Sandy told Presentes that she accessed justice through a writ of amparo, "after having exhausted all administrative avenues to request the surgical interventions."

It's not about aesthetics

The social services organization for provincial employees in Santa Fe considered Sandy's request to be for "purely cosmetic procedures," but she understands that: "in reality, these are procedures related to self-perceived gender identity, which are covered by the Gender Identity Law. This law does not consider them cosmetic but, based on Article 11 and its regulations, as part of the comprehensive healthcare access for trans and travesti people." In this sense, fighting for the recognition of this law is "a fight for the right to health of a historically vulnerable population," Sandy said. Article 11 of the Gender Identity Law clearly establishes that: "all persons over 18 years of age may access total and partial surgical interventions and/or comprehensive hormonal treatments to align their body, including their genitalia, with their self-perceived gender identity, without needing judicial or administrative authorization." Sandy insists on the nature of this article and maintains that: “the surgeries that are being demanded correspond to our identity and therefore are surgeries that aim to improve the health of trans and transvestite people, since after a time of hormone therapy, the side effects that these hormones begin to generate in the bodies are very negative.”

Without solutions from the State

Sandy understands the importance of publicizing the lawsuit she filed against her health insurance provider and the two favorable rulings she received. “This way, other women can understand that they too have the option and the recourse to take action against private health insurance companies if surgeries aren't being performed.” She added, “Many of my colleagues have been waiting for years for services because the government and health insurance providers aren't offering a real solution, at least not in the Province of Santa Fe, and it's their obligation.” The Province has an Undersecretary of Sexual Diversity, but according to Sandy, this department “doesn't intervene to ensure the Gender Identity Law is respected, since there's a waiting list in public health facilities for many women who don't have access to comprehensive healthcare,” she told [the publication/publication name]. PresentsFollowing the confirmation by the Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals regarding IAPOS's obligation to provide coverage, Sandy now has a date for her final surgery.