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This month, Oregon started covering the cost of reassignment surgery for transgender people on Medicaid. It also covers things like hormone therapy and puberty suppression. Oregon now joins a handful of other states that have recently taken steps to help people with gender dysphoria. It's a controversial move. But as Kristian Foden-Vencil of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports, people in the transgender community are thrilled.
KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL, BYLINE: When Alexis Paige was born 26 years ago, as far as doctors and family were concerned, she was a boy. But by 11, she began to grow breasts and wanted to be a girl, making school very difficult.
ALEXIS PAIGE: It kind of culminated in an instance in which I was actually pressed, like, against a wall by someone who groped my breast to see if they were real and wanted to check if I was actually male or female.
FODEN-VENCIL: By, 16 her hips began to spread. She says she always felt different, as if she wasn't in the right body, and it drove her to attempt suicide by riding a bike into oncoming traffic. After a lifetime of suffering, a doctor prescribed her estrogen last year.
PAIGE: Suddenly, for the first time, I had energy. I wasn't feeling sad all the time. I actually stopped getting sick. I stopped feeling sore. This was who I was supposed to be.
FODEN-VENCIL: At that time, Paige had a job and insurance to cover medical expenses. But then, she lost that job and was terrified she'd have to end the therapy. She says knowing the Oregon health plan now covers her hormones if she becomes unemployed again is invaluable.
PAIGE: I know there will be some people who question that and will question whether that's right or question whether it's wrong. And the thing is - so what? I mean, you don't look at someone with cancer and go, oh, your cancer wasn't caused by a genetic reason. It was environmental, so we're not going to treat you.
FODEN-VENCIL: Oregon joins California, Massachusetts and Vermont as states where Medicaid covers medical treatment for gender dysphoria. Washington D.C. also offers coverage. By looking at medical billing data, Oregon estimates at least 175 people will use the coverage this year. But, there are those who question its validity and expense.
SENATOR JEFF KRUSE: To a large degree, I think the jury is still out on these procedures and whether or not they're legitimate.
FODEN-VENCIL: Republican State Senator Jeff Kruse is on Oregon's Senate Health Care Committee. He says gender reassignment procedures are elective and dubious at best. Oregon's Health Evidence Review Commission decided to look into coverage for gender dysphoria last year. Until then, it had been lumped in with conditions like pedophilia and fetishism. Commission director Dr. Ariel Smits says now people who've been suffering for years are getting medical coverage for a real disorder.
ARIEL SMITS: People with gender dysphoria that did not receive treatment had a much higher rate of hospitalizations or ER visits or doctor's visits for depression and anxiety.
FODEN-VENCIL: They also had a higher rate of suicide attempts. Some studies put it at about 30 percent.
SMITS: But folks, when they received the treatment that they felt was adequate for their gender dysphoria, had a almost normal rate of depression and anxiety compared to the general population.
FODEN-VENCIL: Their suicide rate also dropped. But what about the cost? Smits' best estimate is up to $200,000 for the whole state.
SMITS: There's also a possibility it will be less, or even cost savings, because, hopefully, these folks will no longer go into the ER or be hospitalized because of their severe depression or their suicide attempts.
FODEN-VENCIL: While new coverage begins this month, it may take a while to line up all the necessary services and doctors for the transgender therapies to run smoothly. For NPR News, I'm Kristian Foden-Vencil in Portland.