Good on paper: The effect of health insurance type on transgender persons' ability to change health records

Little is known about the health and life outcomes of the transgender population outside of the realm of sexually transmitted infections. Transgender persons in the United States face overt and covert discrimination, and one type of discrimination is the denial of changes of health insurance records. This has implications for both transgender persons access to gender appropriate health care, as well as implications for their health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between transpersons being allowed to make changes to their health insurance records in relation to the type of health insurance they have. Specifically, I have hypothesized that: 1) Compared to transgender persons with private health insurance, transgender persons with Medicaid are less likely to be denied changes in health insurance records as opposed to being allowed changes, and 2) Compared to transgender persons with private health insurance, transgender persons with Medicare are more likely to be denied changes in health insurance records as opposed to being allowed changes. Data utilized was that of the 2012 National Transgender Discrimination Survey. The model was estimated using multinomial logistic regression. The findings suggest that the hypotheses are supported, and that health insurance type does indeed play a role in transgender persons being able to change their health records to reflect their current or desired gender. Further research is needed in examining the role of health insurance type as a barrier to health care access, and its role in the type of health care services transgender persons seek.