University of Illinois trustees voted Thursday to add coverage for sex-change operations to the health insurance plan used by many students on the Urbana campus. University officials say that coverage will cost undergraduates an extra 2 dollars each semester, starting this fall. That’s on top of an increase of $35 that the University says is related to the Affordable Care Act. Student Stephanie Skora is president of the Campus Union for Trans Equality, and she urged trustees to support the gender confirmation surgery.
“People who have undergone this commitment who need this surgery, because this is not an elective procedure, show great commitment to the fact that they need their body to be changed in order to live a happy, successfully, and fulfilling life. When this is denied to a person, the results are catastrophic.”
U of I Trustee Timothy Koritz, who’s an anesthesiologist, cast one of two votes against the plan. He says he's concerned students who are still in their teens are too young to make decisions about something that can't be undone. Trustees added sex-change coverage at the Chicago campus last year.