The process of gender reassignment in the Czech Republic is started by about a hundred people a year. Most of them opt for hormone therapy, while only approximately three out of a hundred people undergo gender reassignment surgery. This follows from the data provided by the Association of Health Insurance Companies.
Transsexuals – people who are born as men but feel like women, or vice versa – apply for gender reassignment. “Transsexuality is a congenital disorder of gender identity, which usually causes serious mental problems. In the Czech health care system, it has its diagnosis and treatment,” said doctor Ludmila Plšková from the Association of Health Insurance Companies. The diagnosis is followed by hormonal treatment supplemented by psychotherapy. If people do not undergo surgery, they take the appropriate hormones for life.
Gender reassignment is a long-term process. First, the application of a transsexual patient is assessed by a sexologist, then it is decided by a commission of the Ministry of Health. For example, in 2019, the commission considered 157 applications from transgender patients. According to insurance companies, the number of approved changes is around one hundred per year.
“The vast majority of patients opt for hormone therapy. Only about three out of 100 people want a complete surgical transformation of their body. In approved cases and after at least a year of hormone therapy, the costs of the operation are covered by the health insurance company,” Plšková explained.
According to Plšková, the cost of hormonal treatment is about CZK 3,000 to 5,000 a year (€118 to €197), and the operation costs public health insurance at about CZK 100,000 (€3,930). “Overall, we are talking about the cost of the entire system of around ten million korunas (€393,000) a year,” the doctor added.
Title image: Protesters hold a banner and rainbow flags during the Kyiv Trans March in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv Saturday, May 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
