How New Medicaid Rule Will Help The Transgender Community

NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS | By Maureen Foertsch McKinney

Published April 25, 2019 at 4:04 PM CDT

Milo Vieland is a navigator for transgender and gender noncomforming people working their way through the surgery process.

Hear Maureen McKinney's interview with Milo Vieland here.

Milo Vieland is a caseworker for transgender and gender nonconforming people at the Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago. Through a program that started last year, he helps transgender folks navigate through medical aspects of the transition process such as dealing with insurance. The transgender man says many of his clients will benefit from a new policy the state recently announced to start paying for gender reasignment surgeries through Medicaid. Maureen McKinney spoke with Vieland this week.

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Maureen Foertsch McKinney

Maureen Foertsch McKinney is the NPR Illinois News Editor and a lead editor of Illinois Issues' feature articles, working with freelance writers, and is curator of the Equity blog. Maureen joined the staff in 1998 as projects editor. Previously, she worked at three Illinois daily newspapers, most recently the suburban Chicago-based Daily Herald, where she served stints as an education reporter and copy editor. She graduated in 1985 with a bachelor's in journalism. She also has a master's degree in English from the University of Illinois at Springfield.

See stories by Maureen Foertsch McKinney