A district court judge in Minnesota has lifted a decade-long ban on controversial sex change surgeries, according to published reports.
Ramsey County Judge William Leary made the ruling in a lawsuit filed by a 64-year-old biological woman who was denied Medicaid coverage to pay for her double mastectomy.
Leary rejected the state’s claims that paying for unnecessary sex change surgeries for people with mental problems would be prohibitively expensive and take away resources from patients with real medical problems.
The judge’s ruling brings Minnesota into compliance with a July 2016 federal law striking down bans on transgender surgeries nationwide.
Changes to Obamacare in July means younger transgenders, such as the biological females pictured above, can apply for Medicaid to pay for their expensive sex change surgeries beginning January 1, 2017.
President-elect Donald Trump promises to dismantle most of Obamacare when he takes office come January.
