The City of Calgary has stated they've filed 0.1% of their employees' benefits claims for gender affirmation services (not including prescription drugs), which are covered by their employee benefit package. Between "January 1 to August 31, 2025, the City’s claims were approximately $35,000 in total for gender affirmation services," they told the Western Standard. "This amount represents less than 0.1% of The City’s total extended health care claims (excluding prescription drugs) for this period."Excluding prescriptive drugs, such as Gender Hormone Affirming Therapy (GAT), which includes estrogen-based therapy, testosterone therapy, and hormone blockers.."Our benefits provider includes coverage for gender affirmation services at no additional cost to benefit rates, and the City of Calgary makes this available to its plan members," the city said.Employees will only qualify for coverage if they've been diagnosed with gender dysphoria by a nurse practitioner or a physician, and they will then be provided with: "Reasonable and customary charges, limited to $50,000 lifetime."Since the City says fewer than 10 employees used the benefits, they would not disclose the number.The city's benefits package also details what would be covered:"Foundation (core) – Transition-related genital and chest/breast surgeries not covered by your provincial/territorial health plan, as well as vocal surgery, tracheal shave, chest contouring/breast construction, vaginal dilators, laser hair removal, and facial feminization surgery.""Focused – Non-genital, non-breast/chest enhancement surgeries as follows: nose surgery, liposuction/lipofilling, face/eyelid lift, lip/cheek fillers, hair transplant/implants, and gluteal lifts/implants.".The Western Standard contacted the City of Edmonton with the same question, but was not given the amount spent on city employees for gender affirming care in 2025."The City of Edmonton provides inclusive benefits that offer coverage under the core benefit plans (jointly funded by the City and participating employees) for services including gender affirmation," they stated."This aligns with the City’s goal of supporting inclusion across the organization.""As for your question about specific numbers, we are unable to provide this information.""An employee’s identity, along with any related medical information, is considered confidential under privacy laws.".Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.
