What would you consider public funding of transgender care?

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Your "proof" is a single line from WebMD? Yeah... not really... There is no proof towards that, whereas there is more proof pointing towards it being a in womb development complication/birth defect. If you really want to argue that, have fun finding more proof to defend that. Just an FYI, you're arguing with a transgirl right now, I've done my share of reading and research in to it, as well with autism studies. The main theory for trans, is hormonal in the womb during development, and the main theory for autism is passed down genetically from your parents.

What I'm trying to get across that you aren't getting is that the surgery is very expensive and the side effects of not getting it are mental and not physical. Depression is treated because it can be treated fairly cheaply. Lets say someone was horribly disfigured in an accident or even from birth. So disfigured that people had a hard time looking at them and it caused them great emotional pain because they knew that the body they were in did not represent who they were. They were so upset over this that they constantly considered suicide. Surgeons could fix this but it would be expensive. The person has no physical problems from the disfigurement but has many, many mental problems from it. Public funds would not go toward fixing it because of the expense involved and because there are no physical side effects.

Acne, which is disfiguring, is covered under medicaid, but only some treatments for it are. The cheap ones. I'm not sure if they would give a pre-op trans person hormones or not that would be covered by Medicaid but if they are cheap, I don't see why they shouldn't. I'm FOR people getting the surgery they need, including sex change operations. What I'm not for is them spending so much of the Medicaid money for it that they can't treat people's physical problems that might kill them. Medicaid funds are limited. That's why they are like that.

When my youngest son cut his finger almost all the way off and had to have surgery, the doctor tried to give him this new drug that was out for pain. My son is allergic to opiates and opioids,. He swells up and has an extreme reaction. He cannot take Lortab, Demerol, Percodan, etc. He can't take most of the post op meds which are strong enough to stop the pain. There was a new drug strong enough to stop it but it was very expensive and Medicaid wouldn't pay for it. It wasn't an opiate or an opioid so it was safe for him. It was so expensive that we couldn't afford it so he had to try Tramadol and Toradol and neither one really helped. So, Medicaid will pay for cheap things, and things "within reason". They might pay for some psychological help for the depression, but they won't pay for the reason for the depression in this case.

It's considered unneccessary. I think it is neccessary but I also know how thin Medicaid dollar are stretched so I would have to vote no on covering it, just like I would cosmetic surgery and even abortion when the life of the mother isn't in danger from the pregnancy.

However, I do believe that the bigger insurance companies should cover it after you have had your policy a certain amount of time. Also, another thing just occurred to me. Couldn't the trans community come together and raise money to maybe start a trust that will either through it's principle or its interest, cover surgeries for people who cannot afford them or get them done in other ways? Could they possibly find some sympathetic doctors who would donate their time to do the surgery so only the hospital bill would have to be paid? Of course that would take time and wouldn't help you right now, but it might help someone else on down the road in the next generation.

I'm for you getting the surgery, trust me, I am. But I've had Medicaid deny medically needed tests and treatments for my children and had to do without them because of that, so thats where I'm seeing the issue from. Medicaid denied my daughter several tests and she had to put up with pain for months and lots of vomiting, until Medicaid was satisfied that Prilosec etc wouldn't fix her condition, then she was allowed to have the tests which the Dr wanted to do months before and thats when they found out it was her gall bladder and removed it and she's fine. No, it wouldn't have killed her but it was morbidity. They try to avoid morbidity and mortality. She missed a lot of school and had to deal with truancy court etc even with doctors notes.

Also, another beef I have with Medicaid is its laughable funding of psych care. You are only allowed so much time to get better. Also, you are only allowed certain drugs. They also don't cover dental in adults, and dental problems can end up causing endocarditis and killing you. Medicaid is horrible. It barely does what it's supposed to do and many people go without needed treatment because of it. Treatments that can either save their lives or make them functional again. That's why I'm against using Medicaid funds for sex change surgeries, even though they truly are needed in some people.

Well, Oliveoilmom, that's the problem with the system. I'm of the opinion everything actually medical (between both physical and mental health) should be covered by the state. I mean, even in the current state of affairs, men can get penis pumps and viagra/cialis, but yet... a trans person who at the very least needs their hormones, can't get them, and THOSE ARE CHEAPER than viagra/cialis. Oh yeah, and no, the surgery, really isn't that expensive, between $10k and $20k or so. And, with the "relatively" few number of trans people who even pursue surgery (not counting breast augmentation/reduction and FFS)

But, I also support a national health care system. Everyone should be covered for everything they need. Hell, even viagra and penis pumps, cardiac bipasses for people who are just going to f**k them up again. No one should ever have to be sick, we should have gotten to the point where conditions go untreated or undiagnosed. Hell, just remove tax exemptions from churches and religious organizations, and BAM, that right there should pay for national health care, with no one being impacted by that... well, except greedy church officials.

I think that everybody should be covered for everything too, but there isn't enough money. It would never pass if they had a bill to remove tax exempt status, and I do think removing it is a good idea. But it would never pass. The whole ObamaCare thing is a farce. It's handled and set up completely wrong. There isn't even anything on there that we can afford! Luckily though, one of the places my husband is interviewing today has insurance.

We have this thing in Alabama called AllKids, which is for kids under 19 whose parents make more money than is allowed for Medicaid but who can't afford private health insurance. It's run by Blue Cross and it's on a sliding scale. Some parents pay a one time fee when they sign up and then just a copay at the dr and drug store. Others don't have a fee but do have a copay and still others have neither a fee or a copay. The amount of the copay depends on your income as well. If ObamaCare was set up like that, it would be great. People would have access to health care who don't have it now.

I do think that insurance companies should pay for sex change operations because of the level of distress it causes those who need it, just like I think they should pay for some cosmetic surgeries for people who have a very high level of distress related to their problems. I'm not talking about people who just want it really badly, I'm talking about people who are suicidal over it and can't even live or enjoy their lives because of it.

However, because of the limited funds of Medicaid, I would still have to vote against them paying for sex change operations along with many elective surgeries and all cosmetic surgeries. You know they won't even pay for breast reconstruction after a mastectomy? They can't. They don't have the money.

It's times like this I'm glad I live in a socialist hell hole.

Medicaid here covers dental.It varies state to state.I also get to see a psychiatrist,psychologist and a case worker,all covered.If I am unable to drive I get two free trips a month by a driver to my appointments.My medication costs me $1.50 for an antidepressant and anti-anxiety meds,and I think I can get two more scripts if I need them.The hard part is finding a doctor that takes it,there is one dentist for several counties that takes Medicaid.I can't find a neuropsychologist in this area that takes Medicaid for adult testing for PDD.
If someone is so traumatized by being born in the wrong body that they try and chop off the offending pieces,I'd want them to have the surgery.I wish everyone was covered for all their medical and psychological needs.

It covers dental for children here but not adults. We had medicaid for one month back when my husband was laid off, but get this. The lady told use that if we used it on say August 4th and DH got a job on August 31st, even if he hadn't got paid yet, we would be responsible for anything medicaid paid for during August. For adults, they have this once a year thing in West Blocton. They let you know in advance when it will be and it's a bunch of dentists who will pull teeth for free. They don't fill anything, they don't do anything else. They just pull the bad tooth. So, if I had a cavity that hurt me, I'd have to have it pulled. Dentists here don't bill you or take payments or have a sliding scale. They want it all up front. The free guys in Blocton don't give you gas, but they do give you novicaine. They don't give you antibiotics at all, even if you have MVP or if you have an abcess and they do not give you any pain meds for afterwards either.

My doctors office (my doctor is my friend R's husband) has a sliding scale and i pay $25 to see him but the lab doesn't have a sliding scale and I have to pay that up front and he won't prescribe a lot of stuff without labs. Also, I can't afford the meds he does prescribe. Right now I don't even have the $25 to see him. My youngest son just turned 19 and he's off Medicaid now. So, he woke up sick today. Dh took him to the ER cause we don't have the $25 for the Dr and they cave him an antibiotic for strep and that was close to $30 so we now have $20 left to last us till DH gets a job and gets paid.

Sucks to be me.

If you know what antibiotic you need,you may can get it at the feed store,it's the same stuff,just cheaper.I had a pack of tetracycline here for the pets and it was made by Pfizer.
It's too bad that everyone doesn't have dental and at least free yearly physicals,most problems can be prevented by regular checkups.They won't give you dentures on Medicaid.My ex didn't check into this,and had ALL his snaggly teeth pulled thinking he was going to get a free set of choppers.

So... here is a thought... instead of saying "well, I can't get care I need, so you shouldn't either" you should be saying "neither of us can get care, lets work together to try to change the system" or some s**t like that. That is what's wrong with this country, everyone only wants to benefit themselves and to hell with anyone else.

No, what I'm saying is "Since many people can't get the care they need for things that are making them physically sick or causing physical pain, lets work on getting them care before we work on getting people expensive care for things that make them upset".

FYI, gender dysphoria in transfolk, it can make them physically sick, and cause physical pain. trans health care is medically necessary, even just talking about HRT, which in really f*****g cheap, it doesn't even get paid for. But, we'll still keep paying for all the old fat people who don't take care of themselves, and have multiple bypasses and heart attacks, diabetes, and other major health issues, lots of which are their own fault, and they do nothing to prevent or try to control. Oh yeah, and for all the old men who can't get a boner anymore, lets give those crusty guys viagra so they can scare their wives with it, cause, that's medically necessary, same with the penis pumps they get too. That saves old mens lives.

So, maybe instead of arguing to keep people from getting necessary care they really do need, you could argue for means testing for people to get repeated heart surgery, or diabetic care, and cut out funding for viagra and penis pumps. Stop saying people who can't help who they are (transfolk) shouldn't get the care they need to survive.

I don't want other people with Asperger's to alter their appearance for the price of a really good car at the cost of taxpayer's money either.

You completely missed the point GG.

This is dualism in a nutshell. Dualism should NOT inform any decisions about which conditions are more worthy of being cared for than others. Dualism is a completely non-scientific philosophy, with no grounding in evidence. In fact, there is evidence against it. Mental anguish deserves no less consideration than physical pain. In fact, all medical conditions should be considered and those who have risen to a certain level requiring certain treatment should receive it. In the 1999 ruling that led the NHS (U.K. public health system) to cover sex reassignment surgery, the court ruled that categorically excluding treatment for conditions, even for the purpose of controlling cost, amounted to discrimination (and amounted to acting as though the condition were not a real condition), and that every medical condition needed to be considered for funding on a case-by-case basis, looking at such factors as severity. Medicaid has a similar provision and that provision has been enforced at times, though in the past decade or so regulators have come up with ways to avoid covering it. As stated in a recent article published in American Journal of Public Health by Daphna Stroumsa (2014), with the precedent that has been set since the U.S. Tax Court decision in O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner (2010) and other decisions afterward, as well as statements from the major health organizations, along with the medical literature, all establishing the medical necessity of hormones and sex reassignment surgery for some cases of gender dysphoria, we expect those Medicaid exclusions to soon crumble for representing discrimination against a diagnosis (illegal in the federal law creating Medicaid) and for unreasonably restricting medically necessary treatment.

Anyway, regarding the issue of cost, there have been some studies on that lately. For example, a couple years ago California's Department of Insurance found that covering transition-related care, to include surgery, would likely have medium- to long-term benefits for public health:

http://transgenderlawcenter.org/wp-cont ... urance.pdf

In response to this report, the CA DOI ordered individual insurance plans to cover transition-related care a year later.

BTW, this was Stroumsa's source:

http://www.uiowa.edu/~ilr/issues/ILR_97-4_True.pdf

No, it's basically common sense triage. You first take care of the more serious and painful cases then you deal with the ones causing lesser issues. That's why if I were to go to the ER feeling depressed and suicidal and a car wreck victim that went through the windshield and had multiple injuries came in, they would see that patient before me. They would also see someone who needed stitches before me or who was in danger of dehydration from vomiting, even if the vomiting was the result of some frat party binge drinking.

It's common sense. Lets take care of the worse problems before we take care of the lesser ones. As it is, Medicaid can't even cover all the bad problems. And for the viagra remark from that other poster, Medicaid does not cover viagra.