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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A REAL News Central Indiana 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, RNCI’s undercover reporter called the clinic posing as a student seeking cross-hormone therapy. Within eight minutes, RNCI’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 RNCI’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. RNCI’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.”
RNCI’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
RNCI 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
RNCI 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.
RNCI 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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