Coverage for transgender surgery has been increasing in the U.S., not just in Medicare/Medicaid but also in state-sponsored private plans and employment insurance. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Greater acceptance of transgender individuals, as well as an end on the Medicare/Medicaid ban on transgender surgeries, have led to an increase in the number of such surgeries—but there is concern among health care advocates that the current administration will fail to enforce the Affordable Care Act's ban on discrimination on the basis of gender identity and threaten the availability of such surgeries.

The Washington Post reports that the first U.S. study of its kind on transgender surgeries has found that the number of gender-affirming operations increased fourfold from 2000 to 2014. The study, published in the journal JAMA Surgery, also finds that the rise may be related to an increase in insurance coverage for the procedures.

“Early on we recognized there's been a lot of work on health disparities having to do with age, race and so on that get collected in health-care settings,” Brandyn Lau, an assistant professor of surgery and health sciences informatics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is quoted saying in the report. Lau adds, “One of the things we need to know is whether [lesbian, gay and transgender] patients are getting the same care.”