Toomey v. State of Arizona

The Arizona state employee health plan has a blanket exclusion for gender-affirming surgery and transgender people are not offered the opportunity to demonstrate that their gender-affirming surgery is medically necessary. The lawsuit alleges the exclusion unlawfully discriminates against transgender people in violation of federal civil rights statutes and the Constitution.

“No one should be denied medically necessary care because of who they are,” said ACLU of Arizona Legal Director Kathy Brody. “Transgender people are part of our community, our families and our workplaces, and they deserve the same benefits Arizona affords everyone else.”

The lawsuit asks the court to remove the health plan’s exclusion for gender-affirming surgery. It also seeks the opportunity for all transgender state employees and dependents to have their claims for gender-affirming surgery evaluated as medically necessary under the same standards and procedures the health plan applies to other medical treatments.