Do you think that insurance should cover the operation for a person who is a transgender? I know the video we watched today brought up how insurance did not cover it and it is a very costly procedure. What do you think about this?

I'm not sure that I do think insurance should cover such surgeries. I fully support people having the surgery if they want to but the reason insurance companies don't cover it is because it is elective. This surgery is not imperative for these people to be alive and physically healthy. Don't get me wrong, that would be great for those people if it did but I don't see it happening. If they covered that type of surgery people would argue that insurance should cover many other cosmetic surgeries as well.

Yea. I think Julie has a good point. Insurance companies have to think about the money, and because this isn't a life or death surgery then they probably won't ever pay for it.

I don't know how I feel about this because I feel strongly that peoples lives are strongly affected by this. I think that if insurance companies cover some cosmetic surgeries because of other illnesses or disorders they should think about covering something like this. I keep thinking about the guy that felt it was so important to the quality of his life for him to save up 30,000. It must be important and necessary for him.

I'm not sure i agree that insurance should cover these types of surgeries either. I do however, feel that if they want the surgery done then they should do so. I just don't feel that insurance should cover this since it isn't life or death threatening.

I kinda agree with Elizabeth. If insurance companies cover the cost, or some of the cost of plastic surgery for accidents and reconstructive surgery then there should be some way to help out here. But the only why that I could see a insurance company chipping in is if this was an official recognized disease or disorder that has a clear treatment plan including this surgery. And unfortunately I don't see that happening, it would open a flood gates, and I'm not even sure they would want that kind of label attached to them marking them as unhealthy or something along those lines. So while it would be nice for them to get some kind of assistance because the surgery seems so expensive I can't see any insurance company getting involved to help out.

It will be interesting to see how this issue is addressed in years to come because of the growing transgender movement. Although I can understand how a person would feel that insurance should compensate for at least a small portion of these surgeries, I can also understand how people would feel that it was unnecessary because it is elective surgery. I don't really know much about what other types of surgeries are covered by insurance, but it would be interesting to compare what other types of surgery are available for insurance coverage and how they relate to gender reassignment surgery. I think that most of all, insurance companies should be fair in their coverage plans so that there is some type of distinction about which types of surgery are and aren't acceptable for them to cover.

While I agree that gender sex is important for many people, I have to say that if the surgery is not to savea life, I am not for insurance covering it. Insurance does not coer boob jobs, plastic surgery, or any cosmetic surgery and rightfully so. It's not to gender reaffermation that bothers me, but the fact that it is not a surgery to save life. The cost of medical services is already astrnomical, and this would only balloon it more. If ll medical services were free, then I believe that it should be concidered. I know this sounds horible, I want people to be happy and comfortable, but I also believe that we are who we are, and to chane ourselves is a drastic decision. I think I would like a new arm, but then again, after the surgery, I would't be the same.