November was Transgender Awareness Month, and L.A. Care is pleased to share a video story about one of our members who received gender-affirming care.
Transgender health care bans are sweeping across the country, threatening the health – especially the mental health – of those in the middle of their transition. L.A. Care members and their providers feel fortunate that the health plan supports health equity – giving everyone an opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
L.A. Care’s member story is about Jamie Garza, who grew up in a conservative family in South Texas. She is an L.A. Care Covered member, and struggled with her gender identity her whole life. Once she knew she was female internally and wanted to express herself as a woman, she realized she would need a lot of health care in this transition. She says she is blessed to have been able to afford it through L.A. Care, including having a tracheal shave and vocal feminization procedure.
Dr. Abie Mendelsohn, who did the procedures, has been performing gender-affirming care for over a decade.
“Having to live through the hatred, of threats and actual events of violence, but more importantly, just not being able to live their true self – it was just so unfair,” said Dr. Mendelsohn. “And so when we have an opportunity, especially as a doctor, to protect against hatred through medicine, for me, it opened the entire world to me.”
Jaime’s story is part of We Are L.A. Care, an initiative to share stories about our members, providers and staff. Some provider stories include a feature about Dr. Alex Li, L.A. Care’s Chief Equity Officer, and Dr. Edward Cardenas, a beneficiary of L.A. Care’s Provider Recruitment program grant.
If you are interested in being interviewed for a We Are L.A. Care story, please select the link below to fill out our contact form.