Health insurers would struggle to cover transgender issues: Styles

Elizabeth Poucher brought a petition asking for the House to conduct an inquiry into the availability of health insurance for transgender people's care related to transitioning.

She said that transgender people were often unable to get cover for things such as breast cancer, which were affected by hormone treatment, although a male-to-female transgender person was no more at risk than a cisgender woman. Poucher said that while people could sometimes get cover for other pre-existing conditions if they were willing to pay a premium loading, that was not the case for transgender people.

Health Funds Association chief executive Roger Styles said insurers had to be able to offer an affordable product that was appealing to people to voluntarily purchase.

Transgender care was excluded because of the high cost of the transition process, he said, and the risk of adverse selection. People who thought they might transition would take out cover that would pay for it, loading insurers with extra risk.