Fighting transgender politics
By Boston Herald (MA)
A Cambridge transgender woman, outraged that convicted wife killer Michelle Kosilek could receive a free gender reassignment operation that health insurers refuse to cover for law-abiding citizens, has filed suit demanding the same right to tax-funded surgery — a move critics say could mark the beginning of a dramatic, costly shift in entitlements under the controversial federal court ruling.
Anita T. Phoenix, 59, filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month claiming that Medicare and MassHealth discriminated against her.
“How can a convicted murderer get this done for nothing?” said Phoenix, who filed the suit without an attorney. “I have the same problems, and I have to pay for everything even though my therapist and an independent psychiatrist says it’s medically necessary. A convicted murderer has better health coverage than I do.”
State Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), who has supported the Department of Correction in the Kosilek fight, said the lawsuit shows the dangers of the controversial case.
“It will open the door not only to other law-abiding people to make that claim, but people who are incarcerated to seek other forms of surgery that they wouldn’t otherwise obtain,” said Tarr. “What we’re talking about here are extraordinary measures that most citizens can’t afford and wouldn’t undertake. If we set a precedent in allowing Kosilek to obtain this kind of surgery, what we’d essentially be doing is opening the door for all different types of surgeries that are extraordinary to become the subject of entitlement.”
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