Pink News reports that Publicly funded, appropriate gender-affirming care for transgender people could actually save millions for taxpayers and boost the economy, according to a new study.
New analysis from Australian researchers indicates that significantly improving public funding for gender-affirming treatment would likely ease financial pressures linked to psychological distress. The findings suggest such investment is both economically prudent and vital for improving transgender individuals' wellbeing.
The data reveals that trans Australians who have not begun hormone therapy are 3.2 to 7 times more likely to access mental health services for issues like gender dysphoria. On average, this group uses between 1.6 and 3.6 mental health services—such as GP mental health plans or psychologist visits—annually. This contrasts sharply with the general Australian population, which averages one service every two years.
Critically, the study found that after commencing hormone therapy, the same demographic used between 0.3 and 2.6 fewer mental health services on average. Researchers combined these findings with anonymous Medicare records on gender-affirming treatments from 2021 to 2024 to estimate the taxpayer burden from routine mental health service use.
Those records showed that in that period, over 20,300 people aged 15 and above started feminising hormones, and over 11,800 began masculinising hormones. Furthermore, 2,872 adults underwent top surgery, while 826 had gender confirmation surgery.
By comparing the standard $100 cost for psychologist visits to the costs of gender-affirming treatments, the analysis discovered the government spent between $30 and $260 less per person on mental health after individuals started hormones. The savings extended to surgical interventions. The government reportedly spends over $1,700 less on mental health coverage for trans patients after top surgery. For gender confirmation surgeries, savings averaged around $3,416 per person over the subsequent five years.
The financial argument is substantial. The study estimates that increasing funding for gender confirmation surgery would save over $37 million in taxpayers' money. This is based on the surgery costing an average of $19.9 million, compared to $57 million for associated mental health services. These figures do not include hormone treatments, which the authors note are similarly cost-effective, sometimes paying for themselves and in other cases generating direct savings.
Beyond the economic case, the study underscores that improving access to funded care would vastly enhance the quality of life for trans people across Australia by dramatically reducing dysphoria-related distress.
