Health Minister Martine Deprez has clarified the rules on access to hormone therapy after reports that trans and non-binary people in Luxembourg were incorrectly told they needed one or two years of psychiatric follow-up.
There is currently no explicit provision, either at the Health Ministry or in the National Health Fund (CNS) statutes, requiring one or two years of psychiatric follow-up before a person can access hormone therapy.
This emerges from Deprez's response on Tuesday to a parliamentary question from MPs Mars Di Bartolomeo and Claire Delcourt of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP).
The issue concerns access to hormone replacement therapy for trans and non-binary people, some of whom had reportedly been told that such psychiatric follow-up was a prerequisite.
Deprez acknowledged that incorrect information had apparently been given to insured patients. She announced that the matter would be discussed with the relevant services in order to prevent similar misinformation in future.
Certain treatments can nevertheless require a medical assessment and supporting documentation, the minister noted. However, the current rules do not prescribe any minimum duration of psychiatric follow-up.
The ministry is also reviewing the relevant CNS rules. Concrete proposals aimed at depathologising and depsychiatrising healthcare for trans and non-binary people have already been submitted to the CNS and examined by the Social Security Medical Board.
Among the options being considered are measures to simplify access to gender-affirming treatment and give greater weight to an informed consent model, under which the informed decision of the person concerned plays a more central role. The legal, medical, and administrative implications are still being assessed, according to Deprez.
The ministry has also received reports of difficulties accessing transition-related healthcare, including concerns over the cost and transparency of administrative medical reports. It said these issues would be taken into account as part of the ongoing review.
