From the Wisconsin Transgender Health Coalition:

As many of you have probably seen on the Facebook page event, there is going to be a meeting of the Group Insurance Board (GIB) on the morning of Wednesday, August 22.

At this meeting, the GIB will vote on the 2019 insurance benefits for state employees and the state municipal plan. This means that the GIB will be voting on whether or not to keep the exclusion of transition-related healthcare for trans and nonbinary people for 2019. We are planning on packing the room. Join us!

Right now, we are still waiting for the official release of the meeting agenda and time, and we will post the agenda here and update the event time as soon as we have all of the information. The GIB meetings generally start between 8-9am and last 1-4 hours. You can also check this site for updated information: http://etf.wi.gov/boards/agendas_gib.htm.

Whether you can or can’t join us the morning of August 22, please consider sending a letter to the GIB asking that they remove the exclusion. Follow this link for a template that you can use to draft your letter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W3vPFAhlpyKTPRz1E_lh-rxhld-4tMnO7A85zgsjtEM/edit#heading=h.hq003u7q2lq.

Please send your letter ASAP: it is important that they arrive before the meeting, and with a few business days for the GIB members to review them. If you send your letter by or before Wed 8/15, it should arrive in time to be considered. Earlier is better!

The address to send your letter to is:
Group Insurance Board
c/o Board Liaison Department of Employee Trust Funds
PO Box 7931 Madison, WI 53707-7931

We will update this event as we learn more. Please send us questions through the WTHC page!

Thank you all for your work and support!

-Jay

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Jay Botsford

TYRN/WTHC Program Coordinator

608-572-7556 (WTHC main phone)