Changing sex will not cost anything in Argentina anymore. Surgical interventions as well as hormonal treatments allowing to change sexual identity will be covered by the compulsory health plan.
In fact, on May 29, the Argentinian health ministry passed a regulation implementing the law on gender identity.
The law on gender identity, passed in 2012, had already provided for the establishment of this medical coverage but, in the absence of regulations, mutual insurance companies and clinics did not comply with it.
“This means that the operations, but also the hormonal treatments that allow the body to correspond to the self-perceived identity, are part of the compulsory care regimen. They should be covered by company mutuals, public hospitals and private clinics, ”Esteban Paulon, of the Argentinian Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans Federation (FALGBT) told AFP.
There are half a dozen surgeries that allow sex reassignment. Among them, bust enlargement, mastectomy (removal of the breasts), penectomy (removal of the penis), vaginoplasty (reconstructive plastic surgery to correct defects and malformations of the vaginal canal and its mucous membranes), vaginectomy (operation which consists of surgically removing all the tissues that make up the vagina and closing it) and the fitting of a penile prosthesis will be free, as will the hormonal treatments that accompany them. And people who want to have the operation will no longer need the agreement of the administration and justice.
Argentina is the only country in Latin America to adopt laws for the gay and lesbian population. In 2010, she granted gay marriage and in 2012 the Sexual Identity Act which allows “a free declaration of one’s gender, and opens up the possibility of changing it without involving doctors and judges”.
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