The Obama administration’s favorite think tank published a new memo on health care reform yesterday: LGBT Issues in Health Reform. The Center for American Progress goes on to write:

Transgender individuals with access to health insurance can rarely find coverage that fully meets their health care needs. Most insurance plans, both private and public, do not cover the costs associated with transitioning, or moving from one gender to another. … Current proposals for health care reform incorporate a council comprised of health experts to determine minimum standards for health insurance benefits packages. Congress should encourage the council to develop inclusive guidelines that address the health needs of transgender Americans.

That’s right: the left wants to add sex change operations to the list of medical procedures that all health insurance policies in the nation must cover. Specific benefit mandates are one of the driving forces behind exploding health insurance premiums. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance explains why:

While mandates make health insurance more comprehensive, they also make it more expensive because mandates require insurers to pay for care consumers previously funded out of their own pockets. … Mandating benefits is like saying to someone in the market for anew care, if you can’t afford a Lexus loaded with options, you have to walk. Having the Lexus would be nice, as would having health insurance policy that covers everything one might want. But drivers with less money can find other affordable options: whereas when the price of health insurance soars, few other options exist.