OLYMPIA – Governor Ferguson signed a new law from Rep. Nicole Macri (D-Seattle) that further protects transgender people and individuals who have a prescription for hormone therapy. HB 1971 ensures health care access for existing medical care by requiring health plans to provide reimbursement for a 12-month refill of prescription hormone therapy—and, for medications classified as controlled substances, such as testosterone-based prescription hormone therapies, to reimburse up to the maximum refill amount allowed by law to be obtained at one time.
Patients will have already undergone the necessary, well scrutinized, medical evaluations and met the clinical requirements as outlined by their doctor to access hormone therapy. HB 1971 does not change clinical care requirements. It does not change the rigorous process patients must go through to gain initial access to, or continue receiving, hormone therapy.
“I am grateful to my colleagues who voted to move this important health care protection law. Regardless of the assault on transgender rights at the national level, in this Washington, we protect vulnerable populations, and this bill is another way we are standing up for the transgender community,” said Macri.
HB 1971 passed the Senate before the legislative cutoff deadline on Wednesday, April 16, with a bipartisan vote. Ten Republicans voted along with the majority Democrats to pass the bill. In the House, no Republican voted for the bill. The bill goes into effect on July 27, 2025.
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