Medical FSA question

[Guest fhatchett]

We have an employee who is going to have gender reassignment surgery (going from female to male).

Are there any issues as far as insurance coverage we should be concerned with.

I am aware this elective procedure is not covered under our group health insurance.

I'm also assuming this employee could use their Medical Reimbursement account to cover some of the expense of the surgery.

[Guest EHSchaab]

How is gender reassignment considered a medically necessary expense to alleviate, mitigate, treat or prevent a condition?

[Kathy]

2 quick notes - 1, what does the plan document say about what expenses are covered?

and 2, although we can all debate the moral and ethical issues all day, the participant can have a licensed medical professional (physiatrist) certify that gender reassignment is the recognized medically necessary treatment to alleviate gender identity disorder and the related depression that can accompany GID.