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By Cecilia González

Photo: Ariel Gutraich/Archive Presentes and 100% Diversity and Rights

More than 50 LGBTQ+ organizations today demanded concrete actions from the National Health Secretariat (which ceased to be a ministry this year) to guarantee the right to health for transgender people. They are demanding that social security programs and private health insurance plans fully cover hormone treatments and surgeries, and that the State take responsibility for the public production of medications required by this community.

The organizations decided to file this complaint because, seven years after the Gender Identity Law was passed, social security and private health insurance plans still do not fully cover hormone treatments. Public hospitals and health centers often experience shortages of certain hormones or have inconsistent delivery, and some types of hormones have never been purchased.

Photo: 100% Diversity and Rights

These are the main demands of the two letters sent this Friday to Health Secretary Adolfo Rubinstein. They are signed by organizations from across the country, including the 100% Diversity and Rights Network and the National Group of Queer Peronists, as well as unions, since social security organizations are involved in this issue.

[READ MORE: Two trans women reported for medical mistreatment in Pilar]

“The overall situation regarding access to healthcare for the trans population remains a significant issue in this country. There are many obstacles to receiving dignified treatment; there are places where psychological or psychiatric consultations are still requested without justification, or where trans people are pathologized. Sometimes they are even asked to undergo HIV testing even when the consultation is unrelated. The healthcare system is still not equipped with protocols to respect the trans population,” Florencia Feldman, president of 100% Diversity and Rights, explained to Presentes.

The ruling that requires coverage for feminization surgery

The activist referred, for example, to the case of the trans woman who this week managed to get the and her pre-surgical examinations within 10 days

“It’s an act of justice. We’re glad because the justice system is quite resistant to adopting a gender identity perspective, but if it had to act, it’s because that person’s right to receive care had been violated before,” Feldman stated. She also emphasized the contradictions of a system in which the Gender Identity Law is insufficient to guarantee care for transgender people.

If the law were enforced, he added, these cases wouldn't reach the courts, but would be resolved much sooner. That's why one of the main purposes of the memos delivered to the Ministry of Health is precisely to prevent legal action in health matters .

She asserted that the State needs to take charge of the production of hormones for feminization or masculinization. Only then will patients cease to depend on private laboratories or distributors.

The Gender Identity Law , she reminded, has an implementing decree that obligates healthcare providers to guarantee comprehensive treatment for transgender people . However, social security organizations and private health insurance companies refuse to comply and offer coverage of between 40% and 70%, or reimbursements, which is insufficient for people requiring gender reassignment or genital reassignment surgery.

Diana Aravena, general secretary of the Putos Peronistas organization, explained that the trans population suffers difficulties in accessing health care from primary care to more complex treatments, so there is an emergency situation.

“We know this is part of the brutal austerity policies this government is implementing. We are defending rights that we had so hard-won under the previous administration; we are simply asking for compliance with the Gender Identity Law and for guaranteed healthcare for transgender people ,” she said.

Contrary to many existing prejudices, Aravena clarified that the treatments are not for cosmetic reasons, but for health reasons. This is further reflected in the fact that transgender people have a life expectancy of less than half that of the rest of the population.

“Our commitment is about giving visibility to this problem, coming together to demand compliance with the law, but not because we have particular faith in the government, it is rather to promote struggles,” he said.

"Access to hormones is a right"

Marcela Tobaldi, a member of the La Rosa Naranja Civil Association (which is part of the 100% Diversity and Rights National Network), stated: “Free access to hormones is a right of transvestite and trans people, and a legal obligation for those responsible for providing coverage. In the case of the State, this also includes their acquisition, or, as we propose given the repeated difficulties in their purchasing processes, their production through public laboratories.”

In the two notes delivered today to the Ministry of Health, it was requested that a Resolution be issued to order social security organizations and prepaid health plans to comply with the Law incorporated into the Mandatory Medical Plan (PMO) and to cover hormones 100%, as well as their public production for hospitals and public health centers .