Having intolerant friends

[blas87]

I hate to sound intolerant or rude, as I really have no problem with transgendered people.

It's just that, I think there are others in more dire need of certain surgeries that are not well covered (if at all) by insurance at this moment in time.

What I'm referring to are natural born women with extremely lopsided or varied sized breasts (aka, one is so much larger than the other, you cannot hide it), people with moles or birthmarks on their face that make them feel embarrassed to go about their daily business, people with Owen Wilson type noses, people with naturally horrible or missing teeth (NOT from drug use, mind you), stuff like that.

Again, I'm not against cosmetic procedures, and I can understand the mental anguish of being in a body you don't feel is really you. However, I'm leaning more towards that we need to reform the way insurance covers stuff like the above before we get to that.

[Nyoibo]

I look at is as the same sort of thing as treating depression with anti-depressants and counselling, it may not be necessary to survive, but then again it may be if it stops you commiting suicide.

[smileyeagle1021]

Are breast enhancement surgery coverd by insurance?

Short answer, yes.

Longer answer, any "enhancement" that is to correct damage (be it from injury, illness, or condition) is covered. Breast enhancement is regularly covered for women who have had surgery to remove breast cancer. Those who have been in accidents routinely get "cosmetic" surgery to restore them to closer to what they looked like before the accident.

Of course, the question will need to be asked if the procedures needed for gender reassignment fall under that category, but I would say that would fall under a medical condition.

[Ginger Tea]

I was thinking more "I want bigger tits" not breast removal/replacement, the purely cosmetic breast surgery.

If purely cosmetic breast surgery was on most if not all insurance policies, then I'd say let it be so for MTF FTM surgery, if it only applied to medical reasons alone, then I'm back to umming and arring, but as Ive been informed hormones can get you a B cup, I just assumed all MTF breasts were implants going from small to large in stages so not to stretch the skin too much.

[Mr. Anubite]

I would almost think "necessary" means you need shrapnel taken out of your heart or your gangrenous toes removed.

I'm not a doctor (yet), but I believe the definition of "necessary" is a bit broader than that. For example, my father has a deviated septum, and the surgery to correct that is covered by his insurance. Will he die if he doesn't have his septum fixed? No. He won't snore so loudly if he has it fixed, but that's about it. If something like that is covered, why wouldn't a surgery like gender reassignment be covered, which is certainly desirable to the individual, though not "necessary" in life-or-death terms.