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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A REAL News Michiana undercover investigation into the Indiana University Student Clinic’s “Gender Affirming” care program uncovered just how easy it is for a student to mutilate their body through damaging cross-hormone treatments at the public university.
The IU Student Clinic began offering cross-hormone treatments to students in 2019. It turns out, the University has been paying for students’ treatments through grants and unwitting parents with vague charges on their bursar accounts.
On Monday, RNM’s undercover reporter called the clinic posing as a student seeking cross-hormone therapy. Within eight minutes, RNM’s reporter was able to essentially have all of the financials ironed out and an appointment scheduled. The first person to answer the phone was a woman by the name of Candace, who quickly sent RNM’s undercover reporter to the financial department. You can listen to the entire conversation further down in the story.
Undercover Reporter: “I’m trying to figure out how I can go about this privately… I’m still on my parents’ insurance and everything. So, I don’t know how it works. If I need to find a way to pay out of pocket, anything like that.”
Candace: “I’m going to send you to the cashier. They would be able to help you with the financial side of everything and what we can do in that regard. And then after that they can send you to be scheduled for an appointment.”
After only a 25 second hold, a woman by the name of Holly in the financial services department answered. RNM’s undercover reporter once again described still being on his parents insurance and hoped to start hormone therapy in secret.
Reporter: “They’re obviously helping me pay for college and I want that to continue. I just don’t know how… If I need to raise funds? If I need to find a way to go out of pocket? If there’s financial services?”
Holly: “There is a grant that they have. You’ll have to come in for an appointment. And, they can have you fill out the paperwork for the grant. That pays for the appointments and the meds.”
Reporter: “If it goes through my insurance, how does that get billed?”
Holly: “If it does go through your insurance, it’s going to say GAHT Therapy… But, you might be eligible for the grant. I’d set up an appointment with us to speak with a physician and they could help you with the paperwork. And, if you do get the grant, a lot of times they’ll back bill those.”
Reporter: “I’m just scared. I want to keep things private.”
Holly: “Well, we don’t have to bill your insurance for any of it. Come in for that first appointment. They can see about the grant. Get your paperwork signed. And then we can back bill. We may have to put charges to your bursar, just for the first appointment until it gets active, but then, oftentimes they will back bill and pick that up also.”
Reporter: “How does that show on the bursar then?”
Holly: “That just shows up as an IU Student Health Center charge. It does not say what it’s for.”
RNM’s undercover reporter then said he needed to call a friend to talk it over and would call back.
Holly: “Okay. Do you have a number for our schedulers?”
Reporter: “No, I do not.”
Holly: “Okay. I can give you that.”
After giving our undercover reporter the phone number, Holly explained exactly what he should say when he calls.
Holly: “If you’re going to make the initial appointment to do that, you might bring up GAHT Grant and let the schedulers know that you want an appointment to try to get that set up. They’ve dealt with enough, they’ll get you in the right place.”
Reporter: “So is that grant through you guys (Indiana University) or the LGBTQ+ Cultural Center?”
Holly: “It’s through the University. So, this is the only place you’d be able to use that.”
THE GRANT
RNM discovered the grant to pay for a student’s gender transition treatments on campus comes from the IU Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion Queer Philanthropy Circle. The Queer Philanthropy Circle also funded Diversity Equity and Inclusion Ambassadors and renovations to the university’s LGBTQ+ Cultural Center.
HISTORY OF CROSS-HORMONE TREATMENT FOR STUDENTS AT IU
RNM has learned the student clinic began offering the damaging treatments to IU students in 2019 when it started “The Gender Affirming Care Team.” According to a news article written by IU, the care team is led by physicians and counselors employed by the university who appear to be working hand-in-hand with the IU LGBTQ+ Culture Center, which appears to be assisting students in paying for the treatments.
The Gender Affirming Care Team is led by Doctor Laura Knudson and counselor Brad Stepp. Counselor Brandon Muncy also helped develop the program, but has since left to develop similar programs at other universities, like Loyola.
RNM reached out to IU Communications Director Mark Bode to determine how many students have received this treatment, who is paying for it and if parents who pay for their children’s schooling are being secretly billed. As of publication, we have not received a response.
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I understand your stance on this. That being said, as a nurse, we must recognize that college students technically are adults and are entitled to the same healthcare privacy as any other adult. Is this perhaps a college overstepping? Perhaps. They are also offering counseling services, health services, and other services.
Personally, I found the college(s) and universities pushing the covid vaccine and denying students, even ejecting some who were already working on degrees, for not getting the covid vaccine far more disturbing than this.
I do thank you , Clifton, for your informative investigations, research, quest for transparency and the truth.
Thanks Tasha — the real concern here is three fold: 1) IU is using tax money to do this. 2) Parents may be paying for this without knowing 3) Be careful and knowledgeable about where you send your child to school
Our own govt has been using tax money to pay for abortions for the general public for years now. Who even knows the other horrific things our tax money pays for because the US govt is mostly corrupt. I am glad we have people like you to take a stand, even if we do not always see eye to eye on every issue, and that’s okay.
One other point Natasha: most college students are still on their parents’ insurance. Complications from the process can directly impact the finances of the parents.
If the student is a responsible enough adult to have their own insurance and pay their own tuition, then yes you are correct: it’s 100% on them, and it is entirely their choice to make. It’s also going to be their consequences to deal with, but I digress…
I agree that the parents should not be financially responsible for anything not covered by insurance, especially if they are not even aware of the service(s) being provided. This is an elective service and I feel pretty strongly a parent could dispute paying for bills or services that they did not personally receive, nor have knowledge of, nor sign the forms agreeing to pay.
Personally, I like that children can stay on their parents insurance into adulthood. I may not like every aspect of it and how it can be exploited, but all in all it is a good thing in my opinion. I don’t want my children, even college-aged, feeling as if they cannot seek medical or psychiatric care because they cannot afford it or don’t have insurance.
My advice to parents is do your best to raise your children to share your viewpoints and ideals. Teach them to critically think and ask questions. Encourage them, love them, guide them, and (mentally, emotionally, spiritually) support them. At some point we all must let go of the reigns and let them find their way in the world. Pray for them.
That’s my advice.
I didn’t mean to imply that it wasn’t a good thing to allow college kids to stay on the parent’s insurance, I’m just asserting that if they are on the parents insurance then the parents should still have a say in how that insurance is applied. Conversely, students who act as independent adults should be treated as such, even to the point of self mutilation. At some point, all kids should become adults and determine their own destiny.