193 Impact of Gender Affirming Medical Care Access

Abstract

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Gender affirming medical care such as hormone therapy surgery can greatly impact the emotional wellbeing and quality of life of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals. In the US, insurance coverage for these services vary greatly. This project will focus on how insurance denial of gender affirming care can impact emotional wellbeing. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Data was collected via the LITE Connect study, a multi-institutional cross-sectional survey conducted among transgender and gender non-conforming adults in the United States and Puerto Rico from 2020 to 2021. The survey collected 2,125 responses concerning demographic data, insurance status, desire to access gender affirming care, history of insurance denial of gender affirming care, psychological distress (measured via Kessler 6 scale), self-harm, and suicide. The study population consisted of respondents who have sought GAMC in their lifetime, and further separated into individuals who have had insurance denial of gender affirming care versus those without insurance denial. Odds ratios were examined for categorical variables and linear regression was conducted for Kessler 6 score. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Of the 2125 respondents, 1274 (61%) have sought out GAMC. Of those seeking GAMC, 451 (35.4%) have experienced an insurance denial. Preliminary analysis of the odds ratios of insurance denial versus demographic identifiers found no significantly increased odds ratios with respect to race, gender, or age. Given the impact GAMC has on quality of life, we theorize that difficulty accessing gender affirming care would be associated with greater psychological distress. Linear regression found a statistically significant impact of insurance denial of GAMC on Kessler 6 responses (Beta = 0.9684, R^2 = 0.0069). With adjustments for age, gender identity, race, and insurance status, linear regression found denial of GAMC led to a 1.28 increase in Kessler 6 score (CI [0.59, 1.98], p < 0.05). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This study examined the association between access gender affirming care and emotional wellness as measured by the Kessler 6 scale. We have found a statistically significant correlation between insurance denial of GAMC and psychological distress, indicating an avenue for intervention for a vulnerable population.