According To Medical Experts, SRS Is Medically Necessary

I got into this Facebook debate two days ago with a friend of mine who is a nurse and complained about how senior citizens are treated by the US healthcare system.  

I was in agreement with her on the funding issue until she used the Kosilek case as an example in her mind of 'wasteful taxpayer spending' and compounded it by saying that SRS was medically unnecessary surgery.  

Um, flag on the play.   Did I call her on it?  You betcha.  And when I saw the same BS in a Clutch magazine article and transphobia creeping into the comment sections, called them out, too.

According to the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, World Professional Organization for Transgender Health, several professional organizations in the fields of medicine, mental health and social work and surprise, surprise insurance companies such as Aetna,  hormone replacement therapy and sex reassignment surgery are medically necessary

The decision in terms of whether we need SRS or not is up to the individual transperson, and in some cases our medical histories will dictate whether we can have it or not, but medical people who treat gender identity issues are increasingly coming to the consensus opinion that gender reassignment surgery is not a frivolous or cosmetic procedure, but a medically necessary one..

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Has Successful Surgery

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez was recently sworn in for her second term as president of Argentina, and for those of us marveling at the rainbow community human rights progress in that nation we saw her landslide reelection victory in October as great news. 

The international community was alarmed to hear not long after her inauguration that during a routine checkup just before Christmas a papillary carcinoma was discovered that necessitated the removal of her thyroid gland in a 3.5 hour operation.

"The surgery on President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was carried out without any complication," presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro told reporters, adding that she will remain hospitalized for about 72 hours.

Her doctors stated that she has a better than 90% chance of recovery in this case, which is welcome news to Argentina and the international community concerned about her.

Are Chemical Plants A Factor In Transsexuality?

I remember reading with interest the story about the documentary entitled The Disappearing Male which focused on the Chemical Valley near Sarnia, ON and the nearby Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve.

In Canada, the ratio of male births to female births is 106 boys to every 100 girls.  Since the 1990's on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve it's 46 boys to every 100 girls.

Dr Warren Foster, an expert in reproductive health at the Hamilton Health Sciences Centre has done research pointing to what he calls endocrine toxicants. These are endocrine disruptors — chemicals that mimic hormones like estrogen, and that are found in pesticides, organo-chlorides, heavy metals and plastics.

He suspects those endocrine disruptors may be interfering with in-vitro development of a fetus before it can get to the hormone wash point where fetal development will go onto the male path and produce a live male child.

After reading that, I had a things that make you go hmm moment.  If being around Chemical Valley was enough to radically skew the birthrate at this First Nations reserve and there are reports of the same phenmenon happening near other chemical complexes around the world, are those endocrine disruptors doing just enough to cause the spike in trans children we're seeing now? 

For starters between Houston and New Orleans are 1/4 of the petrochemical plants and refineries in the United States with 107 of those plants being in the Houston metro area alone.  When you drive along I-10 from Houston through Beaumont to Lake Charles you are passing several major petrochemical complexes   There's also another major concentration of chemical plants between Philadelphia and  New York

Note where the clusters of transpeople are   Besides the Houston, Dallas-Ft Worth, Austin and San Antonio areas, the trans community clusters off the top of my head in the States are in New Orleans, Washington DC, Memphis,  Nashville, Indianapolis, Tampa, Miami, Pittsburgh, the Philadelphia-New Jersey-New York-Boston corridor, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles,.San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta, Jackson MS, .Louisville KY, Puerto Rico and the Ashland KY area.

Many of those cities and territories I named have petrochemical plants in the area.  In terms of the Ashland KY-Huntington WV area having trans people I always wondered what was up with that until I rode I-64 east through the area in 2000 on the way to Washington DC and saw the massive refinery complex there..  
 
So is this just a coincidence in terms of the clusters of transpeople being in areas that also have petrochemical complexes, or are endocrine disruptors a factor causing a hormone wash that doesn't quite do its job in vitro to either masculinize a fetus or get the masculine development path going?  

Only more medical research will provide the answer to my question..

NY Transpeeps Medicaid Coverage Hopes Crushed

Well, the dissing of New York state's trans population continues. 

Just as hopes of Empire State transpeople were buoyed by the possibility of them getting Medicaid coverage for transgender medical care was raised by a September 30 report stating a task force studying ways to revamp the system was considering doing so, those hopes were crushed by that same New York Medicaid advisory panel.

New York State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah says that no consideration is being given to using government Medicaid funds to pay for "gender reassignment surgery."

Note to Health Commissioner Shah:  Transpeople do pay taxes in NY state, so those government funds you speak of do come from work that was performed by trans New Yorkers.

The working group for Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Task Force had proposed to "provide Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery/hormone replacement therapy and treatment."

You really need to, in light of the fact these Medicaid exclusions on trans related medical care  disproportionately impact trans people of color. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) immediate response was less definitive, saying simply he hadn't yet reviewed any recommendations from the working group.  

Yeah, the governor can be so definitive, bold and ot front with his leadership when it comes to getting same gender marriage passed, but not on GENDA or any issues that affect the Empire State's trans people.

Why am I not surprised?

NY State Considers Medicaid Coverage For Trans Health Care

I would probably hazard a guess that if New York transpeople had their way, they would rather have GENDA as the law of the land in New York State, but if this goes through, we trans people may have a reason to hold up 'Thank You Governor Cuomo' signs like the GL community did recently in the near future.

It'll also be a nice win and something that will benefit trans New Yorkers until the long overdue GENDA law is finally passed.

What I'm talking about is the proposal in New York to "Provide Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery/hormone replacement therapy and treatment."  

The panel advising Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on ways to revamp Medicaid has proposed that the program cover surgery and therapy for transgender New Yorkers.   It was a task force convened earlier this year by Gov. Cuomo to overhaul New York's Medicaid system that paid out $53 billion for medical benefits while cutting costs.  

A panel of medical health care professionals are examining disparities in coverage and will decide next week where the transgender healthcare proposal fits on the list of priorities for the revamped system.   It's just one of the many issues that the panel is pondering  including better data collection, diabetes prevention, low income immigrant health care, and contraception for women of reproductive age.

Back in the early 80's Medicaid systems used to cover transgender care until Janice Raymond's infamous 1980 paper led to the phasing out of that practice and the beginning of trans medical care prohibitions in medical insurance coverage

The American Medical Association supports the proposed change, and the California and Minnesota Medicaid systems already provide coverage for hormone therapy and transgender surgery.  

Ross Levi, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda supports it as well. "The reason the AMA said this is medically necessary is if the transgender can't get services they need to live in the gender they are it leads to depression, suicide attempts, substance abuse," said Levi.. The cost would be a tiny part of the Medicaid budget, a fraction of a percent, and overall could provide a net cost savings, he said.

The change in Medicaid policy could affect thousands of trans New Yorkers and help cut Medicaid costs for their mental health and drug abuse treatment..

Before you trans New Yorkers start celebrating, you may wish to start planning lobbying trips to Albany.

The proposed changes even if favorably recommended  and adopted by the governor and placed in his 2012  budget still needs to go through the legislative process before they can take effect.  

So hint, hint time for y'all to prepare to be agents of your own liberation, and hope and pray it happens for y'all. . Lord knows it would help equalize the trans playing field for low income transpeople.