The lawsuit was settled in late December. It was filed in October 2017 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington on behalf of Cheryl Enstad, who worked as a social worker at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Wash., for more than 20 years. The lawsuit argued PeaceHealth violated the ACA and state discrimination law when it refused to cover gender reassignment surgery for Ms. Enstad’s son, then 17, under its employee health plan. Her son’s surgery was determined to be medically necessary to treat gender dysphoria.
The health system switched to Aetna for employee health insurance in 2017 and covered medically necessary transgender services for employees, but not minors. Ms. Enstad’s son is no longer a minor and therefore cannot challenge that portion of PeaceHealth’s amended policies, according to the report.
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