The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: Texacon on March 26, 2009, 02:20:48 PM
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Link to the ..... I don't know WHAT the hell to call this! (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5332713)
ccharles000 (1000+ posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 06:59 AM
Original message
Blue Cross of Michigan to eliminate coverage of gender reassignment surgery
As companies move toward inclusive coverage, Blue Cross of Michigan runs the other way (Michigan Messenger):
A broad coalition of organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, The National Association of Social Workers, Transgender Michigan and others, are condemning a move by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to eliminate coverage for gender reassignment surgery. The new entity calls itself The Michigan Coalition for Gender Equality.
"We are concerned that BCBSM underestimates the profound impact of these medically necessary procedures," said André Wilson of MCGE. "Gender reassignment surgeries can be a critical part of the transition process and these new exclusions will place many transgender individuals and their families at real risk."
The change was approved in Feb. says Jason Moon, a spokesman for the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation. He called the change "unfortunate," but noted the law did not define gender reassignment surgery as a necessary medical care area. Moon said such areas were things like breast cancer and diabetes.
http://www.pamshouseblend.com
Uh oh. I think some of them are going to be pissed.
Smith_3 (1000+ posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 09:22 AM
Response to Original message
3. Transgendering is something that is hard for me to grasp.
If I had a kid that wanted to be transgendered I think I would try my best to talk him/her out of it. I have no problem at all with homosexuality (I know, some here will now lecture me on how these two things have nothing to do with each other), but to undergo a series of permanently altering surgeries voluntarily. Eeesh. I know it is a progressive stance to say insurance should cover this because Cuba does it. But still. Hey. Why don't people just dress up as the other gender and be a homosexual? Why choose to have body parts amputated instead? I guess I must sound like a conservative on this, so flame me if you must.
Bluenorthwest (1000+ posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 09:51 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. Not sounding conservative
just ignorant and bigoted. Very much so. You should find a library or use Google and do some reading. Or remain silent. One of the most offensive things I have ever read on this board, just so you know.
Wow, Bluenorthwest must not read DU much if that is the most offensive post it has ever read on DU.
Then we get THIS confused individual. Evidently it is a woman living in a mans body who wants to be a lesbian .....
AB_Positive (95 posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 12:30 PM
Response to Reply #17
43. *cough*
BEING transgendered I found the comment to be... well, stupid. Ignorant even... dunno about bigoted because there doesn't seem to be any actualy *hatred*. Just stupidity.
Gender Dysphoria is classified as a birth defect of the body. The brain has for major 'genders' that it can form in the womb. Male, Female, Not Male, Not Female. The latter two are more with androgyny, Intersexed and other assorted confusing things. For this exercise we'll stick with my confusing thing and just work with Male and Female brains.
The brain forms first. Using myself as an example:
Brain formed female.
Female brain tells pituitary to send out an estrogen rush, creating a female body.
Pituitary cocks the entire process, sending out a testosterone rush.
One minor glitch, a lifetime of confusing issues to work with.
Medically classified as a birth defect of the *body* not brain, the only actual solution is to modify the body to fix the problem. Consider someone born with a hare-lip and wants it corrected, would you tell them not to do so?
And for the record, crossdressing and "being gay" doesn't work for me either since I'm attracted to the gender I'll become. I'm actually leaving straight-dom to enter the land of being a lesbian. THAT is why you can't make it simpler through better stupidity, because it doesn't work. Much like Shadow of the Beast on an Atari ST.
(ahahahaha, waiting for a British person to get that and yell at me)
This is a HUGE thread with way to much to bring over right now but it is interesting reading.
KC
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I used to work with a musician who used to be male, was married, had kids, etc. Then he became a she, or at least I think that's what happened in looking at "her" photo.
But she, according to her Facebook profile, is looking for a relationship with a "female".
That blew my mind.
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Interesting to see how many of the DUmmies think the rest of the nation should pay for someone to have an addadicktomee.
Those who don't think the rest of us should pay for it are being hammered.
KC
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I used to work with a musician who used to be male, was married, had kids, etc. Then he became a she, or at least I think that's what happened in looking at "her" photo.
But she, according to her Facebook profile, is looking for a relationship with a "female".
That blew my mind.
In the PACAF theatre, AF Weather has to work with a "Gender Reassigned" person for the tech support of our software programs. This person used to be in AF Weather, and a lot of people knew him/her. Everyone was always very uncomfortable around this person.
Everyone here should by now know that i'm pretty tolerant of what some here would call abherrant behavior. I'm very tolerant of gay's, support gay marriage, etc... But stuff like this just creeps me out. THAT is truly unnatural.
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Interesting to see how many of the DUmmies think the rest of the nation should pay for someone to have an addadicktomee.
Those who don't think the rest of us should pay for it are being hammered.
KC
Agreed. Nobody says they can't have a weiner, they just have to pay for it.
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In the PACAF theatre, AF Weather has to work with a "Gender Reassigned" person for the tech support of our software programs. This person used to be in AF Weather, and a lot of people knew him/her. Everyone was always very uncomfortable around this person.
Everyone here should by now know that i'm pretty tolerant of what some here would call abherrant behavior. I'm very tolerant of gay's, support gay marriage, etc... But stuff like this just creeps me out. THAT is truly unnatural.
I agree. It is kinda creepy, I really can't decide how I feel about it, simply because I don't understand that mentality. This will be an interesting thread that's for sure! This topic is so controversial.
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tonysam (232 posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 11:02 AM
Response to Reply #9
23. Yep. Job Opportunities Aren't the Same As Voluntary Surgery.
There is a reason insurance companies don't pay for elective surgery or for cosmetic surgery. "Reassignment surgery" is elective.
Vanje (1000+ posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 11:38 AM
Response to Reply #9
30. If you are against gender altering surgery
then , by all means, you should not have it!
Lance_Boyle (1000+ posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #30
33. or be forced to pay for others to have it. n/t
HarukaTheTrophyWife (1000+ posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 12:29 PM
Response to Reply #33
42. There's lots of things some bigots are against
We shouldn't let them decide who deserves medical care.
They stumble all over each other trying to be politically correct.
KC
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NorthernSpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu Mar-26-09 02:28 PM
Response to Reply #42
97. Bigotry = not agreeing with you?
Go figure.
To liberals..absolutely, this is not new.
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I'm a snake born in a human man's body. Blue Cross wouldn't pay to have my arms and legs cut off. Bastards.
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Why in the hell did they ever cover it in the first place?
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It used to be in the Michigan prison system if a prisoner was in the beginning process such as whores moaning to become a female with breasts the prison system was required to provide the moaning whores their medicine and bras. They were not required to pay for transgender surgery though, IIRC.
And I do not remember if they were housed with males or females. I think it depended on the degree of change that had taken place before incarceraton.
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AB_Positive (95 posts)
Thu Mar-26-09 12:30 PM
Response to Reply #17
43. *cough*
BEING transgendered I found the comment to be... well, stupid. Ignorant even... dunno about bigoted because there doesn't seem to be any actualy *hatred*. Just stupidity.
Gender Dysphoria is classified as a birth defect of the body.
Yah shoor, I s'pose that is more politically correct than calling it mental illness. Which is what it really is.
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I haven't been over to Skins's island today.
Has the subway cat weighed in on the matter yet?
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I haven't been over to Skins's island today.
Has the subway cat weighed in on the matter yet?
If it hasn't changed its user name from undergroundpanther then .... not yet.
Absolutely huge thread.
KC
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A broad coalition of organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, The National Association of Social Workers, Transgender Michigan
Quite a broad coalition. :whatever:
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If it hasn't changed its user name from undergroundpanther then .... not yet.
Absolutely huge thread.
KC
hmmm....interesting.....
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Hmmmmmm :nutkick:
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I'm a snake born in a human man's body. Blue Cross wouldn't pay to have my arms and legs cut off. Bastards.
I didn't know you were a lawyer. :thatsright:
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I didn't know you were a lawyer. :thatsright:
That would make him an arbitrage trader, a car salesman, or possibly a televangelist. We lawyers have very rough skin, fins, gills, and rows and rows of sharp triangular teeth.
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...gender reassignment surgery ...
I'm surprised somebody hasn't tried to take a pole on this. :rimshot:
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It's not medically necessary surgery.
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My ex is a urologist.
We got married in '77 and moved to Charlottesville VA where he did his general surgery residency for two years at UVA.
Back then, UVA was one of the few places in the US that did transgender surgery. All surgical residents have to do urology and plastic surgery rotations, and these were the subspecialties that did these surgeries.
While male to female was most common, they also did female to male.
I was a volunteer at the hospital (yes..the only Pink Lady without gray hair :-)) and we were never allowed to go into the rooms of these patients.
At UVA, the patient had to live totally as the sex they were changing to, for a minimum of two years prior to the surgery. They also had to undergo extensive psychological testing, prior to surgery and also they had to have a specific amount of time in counselling - usually in excess of a couple of years.
With a man, the last thing to be done was removal of the penis. They take hormones, then have the breast implants.....many men stop at that point. (gives new meaning to bi-sexual)
With women...the making of the penis, and altering the urinary tract is the last thing done.
Just in case inquiring minds want to know...the penis is made from muscle and skin taken from the woman's thigh, and a penile implant is used . It used to be the kind that has the two tubes on either side, that are "pumped up" with saline solution. I don't know if that still how it's done. To make a vagina....a vaginal "vault" is created and stuffed with tampax until it heals in the correct shape.(changed quite frequently(by a doctor) while soaking in a hot bath). Sensitivity, "feeling", etc are not guarantees....
There was a resident that was in the same year of training as my ex, that while on plastics rotation, he refused to care for these patients because he said it was a crime against nature and against his religion. He was excused.
It was ungodly expensive back then. The "final" surgery for a man, had a $10,000 minimum fee...which had to be paid up front (so to speak) prior to any surgery. I remember that a woman's surgery was more....but I don't remember how much. I would think it's even more now.....
I have read, and seen programs on TV, that many men will now go to places in the Far East....the Philippines I think....where it is a fraction of the cost that it is here in the states. Also, there is no requirement for the psych counselling or testing, dressing as a woman for two years, or any other requirement. Wonder how many have regrets after the fact? Not exactly something that's reversible.
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these new exclusions will place many transgender individuals and their families at real risk."
I'm having a hard time getting my head around this one, imagining the scenario. A lovely wife & two cute kids, at risk for what exactly if the whackjob isn't covered? I don't know.....
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Ya know what's really sad?
The fact that this was ever covered by insurance!
Yet some women ....who have insurance....cannot get reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy because the insurance company won't pay for the surgery. :(
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Just in case inquiring minds want to know...the penis is made from muscle and skin taken from the woman's thigh, and a penile implant is used . It used to be the kind that has the two tubes on either side, that are "pumped up" with saline solution. I don't know if that still how it's done. To make a vagina....a vaginal "vault" is created and stuffed with tampax until it heals in the correct shape.(changed quite frequently(by a doctor) while soaking in a hot bath). Sensitivity, "feeling", etc are not guarantees....
This is just WAY more information than I need to know!
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This is just WAY more information than I need to know!
But...but....don't you want to know what your health insurance company will pay for? :confused:
And your taxes will pay for with government health care?
:tongue:
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There's a reality show on discovery health called sex change hospital. The doc who runs the place is a male to female him...um..herself. I can't not watch! Usually with one eye closed.....
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These people belong in a hospital or at least should be under the care of a doctor. Mutilation is not the answer to their problems. God made them the way they are for a reason, but they seem to think it was a mistake.