Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) will cover the costs for a man to have “experimental” surgery to have a vagina constructed alongside his existing male anatomy, the court ruled. The patient, whose identity has been disclosed only as KS due to a publication ban, took OHIP to court after he was originally denied coverage for the so-called “penile-preserving vaginoplasty.”OHIP argued it was an elective, experimental surgery and should not be publicly funded in a series of appeals until finally the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled April 10 taxpayers must cover the expenses. The surgery will be done in the US by a Texas surgeon.KS wishes to undergo a procedure that would create a vaginal cavity. He also wants his penis to remain intact. Pursuing the surgery since 2022, the case has undergone several appeals for OHIP to cover the surgery on the taxpayers’ dime. KS identifies as “non-binary” but mostly female and argues he needs the surgery to better align with his identity. There have been so many times that I have had to justify myself to just be,” KS previously told CTV News Toronto, adding if OHIP denied his demands, he would feel “less than.” “People who aren’t trans or nonbinary don’t have to get that permission to exist.”After the ruling, KS told the Canadian Press in a statement through his lawyer he is “ecstatic," calling the ruling "very appropriate and correct" and a "breath of fresh air.""I have been waiting for this day for years!!" said KS.“Though I know there is still time for OHIP to keep attempting to appeal this, I am relishing this day as it's an extraordinarily huge milestone."The surgery is not currently offered in Canada and very few in the US. There are no peer reviewed studies on the consequences of such a procedure. The surgery will be done at the Crane Centre for Transgender Surgery in Austin, TX. KS said he hopes the court's decisions will lead to this surgery being available soon to people in Canada.
