A county spent $1.2 million in legal fees to avoid paying $10K for trans-inclusive health care

Sgt. Anna Lange
Photo: Screenshot/Houston County 911

A county in Georgia spent nearly $1.2 million in a years-long legal battle to deny a local sheriff’s deputy a healthcare plan that would cover gender-affirming care, citing the cost of the plan. But by one estimate, the change to the county’s health insurance would have cost a fraction of what it paid a private law firm.

According to a ProPublica report, an expert hired by Sgt. Anna Lange’s attorneys said that a healthcare plan that included transition-related care would have only cost Houston County about $10,000 per year, adding about 0.1% to the cost of all claims. Instead, the county spent nearly three times its annual physical and mental health budget to fight Lange in federal court.

“It was a slap in the face, really, to find out how much they had spent,” Lange said. “They’re treating it like a political issue, obviously, when it’s a medical issue.”

According to ProPublica, Houston County’s healthcare plan has excluded…

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