They are kidding right?
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41705893...news?GT1=43001

This surgery is about as elective as it gets.

Disagree.

Thanks for the well thought out reply.

Your welcome, thanks for posting the article and your well thought out sentence that the surgery is elective, still I disagree.

if you have private insurance that covers it.. whats the problem?

I certainly wouldnt want medicare/aid or taxpayer money paying for it.. but that is different than private insurance.

I would agree with jms that the surgery is elective, because its not like "we have to fix this hole in your heart or you will die" type surgery, or a ACL surgery.

But it is different than elective plastic "fix my nose, make by boobies perky" surgery. IMO. its a matter of your body matching your brain and feeling comfortable in life.

No problem, I certainly understand your position though. If I were also considering this surgery I'd probably also would feel the same way as you. My thinking is that it is as elective as a nose job or dental implants both under the right circumstances are more than cosmetic. Are there doctors that out there that recommend this as a course of action and if so what malady is it treating?

Doesn't having private insurance that covers elective things of this nature drive up the cost of insurance for all of us?

my boss just had dental implants and they were considered elective by our insurance non-providor.

see my previous post for my thoughts on gender surgery though!

Not as much as the dems stupid law did!!

but I imagine that this womans insurance doesnt cover boob jobs and all.

I just feel gender re-assignment is different from boob job / butt implant surgery.

My point was for someone with say bruxis
m, dental implants are more than cosmetic but in most cases they are cosmetic.

do you think that most gender surgerys are cosmetic? I dont think its about looking better, but feeling comfortable in your body.

I agree with you however isn't that the same reason someone get a a boob job? That is why I think it is elective and including it in insurance drives up the cost for all.

I think you can get fired at my work for disagreeing with transgendered something somethign

good. the workplace is no place for judging your co-workers lifestyles out loud. Keep it to yourself and there is no problem.

No one would 'elect' this surgery ever unless they felt it 'required'! This is a no-brainer! IMO

Covered

I have to agree. I know this is not the best place for going out on a limb on this one but......imagine living in the body of one sex when your brain is wired to be the other sex. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I can see where this type of surgery appears to be elective but if you stop and think about it those that decide to have this surgery are truly suffering inside.

I'm no expert but I believe the suicide rate is high for this group. Nothing should be worth that.

Covered - agreed.

would you consider it a birth defect? it must be. and before anyone gets angry with me, i'm calling it that insofar as you're supposed to be a guy/girl, but your body's the opposite. it didn't form correctly. i don't mean it in a bad way at all, so i hope no one misunderstands what i'm saying. at any rate, people don't elect to have this surgery on a whim. i can't imagine how incredibly difficult it must be to know you're a man (or woman), but your body doesn't match.

And it's not like they make it real easy to get the surgery....there are tons of psych exams, observation periods, etc. Nobody is even ALLOWED to have this surgery on a whim, even if they want to.

that's right. several years of therapy, etc lead up to the actual surgery. hormones, i don't know what all. and the dealing with family, friends, co-workers-aoo to be made right. it's not something easy, and it's not something i'd wish on anyone to go thru. there are children born practically every day who are not clear as to gender-so typically the parents and doctor choose boy or girl, and the child is raised as such. and sometimes, they get it wrong at the start, and those kids go thru hell.