Sex reassignment surgery coverage can no longer be automatically denied by Medicare.
Medical Daily reports that the Department of Health and Human Services Appeals Board shut down the policy which denied these procedures to be covered by Medicare.
For 33 years, Medicare patients who wished to have gender reassignment surgery was denied coverage, due to the fact that the procedure was deemed experimental and controversial.
74-year-old Army veteran, Denee Mallon, brought his case to the appeals board in 2012. Mallon, although having a doctor recommend to have the sex-change operation, was denied coverage from Medicare.
In the ruling, posted on Scribd, the Department of Health and Human Services Appeals Board stated: "The Board has determined that ... denying Medicare coverage of all transsexual surgery as a treatment for transsexualism is not valid under the reasonableness standard the Board applies."
CBS News reports that the new ruling does not mean everyone is eligible to have their surgery covered by the government.
Jennifer Levi, lawyer and director of the Transgender Rights Project of Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders in Boston, stated that the new policy only means individuals can submit paperwork from doctors and mental health professionals who recommend the surgery.
Coverage will not be immediately granted for everyone who applies, but the ruling means the government cannot automatically deny patients' claims.
According to the Transgender Law Center in Oakland, California, gender reassignment surgery can range from $7,000 to $50,000.
The new ruling, however, does not apply to Medicaid, in which the state provides health coverage for low-income individuals and families. Some states have different exclusions on gender reassignment surgeries as well as the hormones transgender people take during their transitions.