A proposal that would cover the cost of sex-change operations for city employees in Berkeley is set for a City Council vote Tuesday night.
Berkeley health insurance providers Kaiser Permanente and Health Net don't pay for gender-reassignment surgery under the city's current health plans. The City Council proposal would set aside an annual $20,000 fund for the procedure for city employees.
The benefit would allow employees to collect the money before the sex-change operation, which can cost up to $50,000. The money would be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis each year.
To receive a payout from the fund, employees would have to have lived as the opposite sex for at least one year and undergone hormone therapy. They also would have to have worked for the city at least a year.
City Councilman Darryl Moore first proposed the idea in 2007.
"We offer all kinds of benefits to our employees," Moore told the San Francisco Chronicle. "This brings our benefits in line with what's just and fair for the transgender community."
Berkeley health insurance providers Kaiser Permanente and Health Net don't pay for gender-reassignment surgery under the city's current health plans. The City Council proposal would set aside an annual $20,000 fund for the procedure for city employees.
The benefit would allow employees to collect the money before the sex-change operation, which can cost up to $50,000. The money would be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis each year.
To receive a payout from the fund, employees would have to have lived as the opposite sex for at least one year and undergone hormone therapy. They also would have to have worked for the city at least a year.
City Councilman Darryl Moore first proposed the idea in 2007.
"We offer all kinds of benefits to our employees," Moore told the San Francisco Chronicle. "This brings our benefits in line with what's just and fair for the transgender community."
What's next, face lifts, tattoos?
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