Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – A person who feels neither as a woman nor as a man is not entitled to reimbursement for the surgical removal of breasts. This emerges from a decision by the Baden-Württemberg State Social Court published in Stuttgart on Monday. For non-binary people, there is no typical appearance that can be adjusted to create gender and gender identity consistency.
The background to the lawsuit was a procedure by a 24-year-old person. According to the announcement, she was born with female sexual characteristics and was therefore originally registered as female from birth in the civil status register. In October 2019, she changed her first name and gender. As a result, an application was made to the statutory health insurance company to cover around 5,000 euros for surgical removal of the breasts. The box office refused. The social court then sentenced her to pay the costs.
The Higher Social Court reversed the judgment of the lower court. Because a right to medical treatment in the form of interventions in intact organ systems that are not impaired in their function can only be considered in exceptional cases – especially in the case of deviations from the norm that have a disfiguring effect, or in the case of medically required gender reassignment in cases of transsexualism. “Both conditions were not present here.” Statutory health insurance excludes claims for such treatment measures that aim to increase the ambiguity of the external sexual characteristics.
The verdict is not yet legally binding. The Federal Social Court can be appealed to because of the fundamental importance.
