Today I received another letter from SKGZ. As with every time since the hearing a while ago, I fear that it's the letter spelling out their conclusion. At stake is thousands of Euros for me which I have spent already over the past years, as well as the basic human rights of intersex individuals. Right now intersex individuals do not exist in medical insurance coverage. When it comes to hair-removal due to hormonal imbalances, or specific types of therapies and surgeries, regular males and females as well as transgender individuals are covered. Yet intersex individuals do not exist in these regulations.
The Dutch government determines what is and isn't covered in the base insurance which all health insurance companies have to provide, and yet they failed to cover a condition which has been known for decades, as evidenced by the 1980s Dutch law I used earlier this year to have my official gender changed, which specifically is aimed at intersex individuals. And thus uncaring insurance companies like Unive feel justified in discriminating against a group which isn't even acknowledged by their own government, aside from a few artifacts.
Today's letter from SKGZ, which has the power to change health insurance coverage, wasn't anything conclusive, thankfully, though it did contain a response from Unive on the additional medical evidence I had sent to SKGZ after the hearing to fortify my claim that I am in fact intersex. SKGZ has fortunately already recognized that there is a gap in the regulations where intersex individuals should have been covered. Now they just need to acknowledge that I am indeed intersex. Why I think that this might be an issue is because in the Netherlands no one has ever acknowledged me as being intersex outside the Alkmaar court and this one physician at the ZGT Almelo. This is probably exactly why Unive is persisting in their current course.
The response from Unive was essentially that they had sent the MRI scans, German medical reports, the ZGT Almelo physician's statement, etc. to their medical advisers, who supposedly then told Unive that they saw no reason to change from their earlier position, that my situation doesn't necessitate them to fully cover the therapies I am forced to undergo as a result of my intersex condition, and that there's no reason for them to clarify their position in any way or fashion.
This arrogant stance can in my view only be due to a smug sense at Unive's side that SKGZ will also deny that I'm intersex and thus deny my claim against Unive. This is a worry I also expressed to SKGZ during the hearing, as I mentioned in an earlier post. Of course, if SKGZ does this, they'd go in against the findings of three German clinics and the judgement of the Dutch legal system, as all of these have found me to be intersex.
I really hope that this will all be over soon and that SKGZ will decide in my favour. It'd really make my life a lot easier knowing that there's still the possibility of justice in the Netherlands despite everything.
Maya
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