Lawsuit claims Georgia health benefits deny transgender-related treatment for employees
TLDEF Attorney David Brown explains plaintiff Micha Rich, a state employee, is suing Georgia for being denied health benefits. (FOX 5 Atlanta)
ATLANTA - Several state employees said they are suing Georgia because they were denied transgender-related healthcare through their state benefits.
Micha Rich joins fellow state employee Benjamin Johnson and the unidentified dependent of another state employee as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Doctors diagnosed Rich, an accountant with the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, and Johnson, a media clerk at an elementary school in Bibb County, with gender dysphoria.
Rich said he is unable to access the healthcare he needs, and he's had to pay out-of-pocket for treatment that doctors deem necessary.
"I need the place that I love, my home state, to do the right thing," Rich said.
David Brown, Legal Director for the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, called the state health benefits plan discriminatory.
"Employers and insurers throughout the state cover (transgender-related healthcare), but the state of Georgia refuses to do so for its own hardworking employees and their families just because they are transgender, just because of who they are," Brown said.
Brown cited a lawsuit filed against Houston County, in which a federal court ruled an employer cannot exclude or deny coverage for transition-related medical treatments. The state also settled a lawsuit seeking to allow transgender-related healthcare in its Medicaid plan. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents settled a lawsuit excluding transgender-related healthcare from its plan.
"We are confident in the success of this case too," Brown said. "There is no room for discrimination in Georgia."
FOX 5 Atlanta reached out to Attorney General Chris Carr's office for a response to the lawsuit, but his office had not responded.
Earlier this year, state legislators passed a bill putting the responsibility on the Georgia High School Association to decide if transgender girls would be allowed to compete in girls' sports. GHSA voted to require student-athletes to play on teams determined by the gender on their birth certificate, rather than their gender identity.