LGBTQ Stuff (split from other political threads)

[Jarnhamar]

My issue here is with what I see as a waste of tax dollars and medical resources being used on elective surgery. My example isn't hypothetical either, there's already a video I came across of someone talking about pursuing it.

In my opinion it's no different than tax payers being on the hook for overweight people being given an expensive diabetic medicine to lose weight, or getting surgery to make someone taller (if they can get a doctor to write it off as medically nessary.)

 

[KeLouJoH]

Personally I don't see it from the point of whether it's a waste, because when you see it from the taxpayers' point of view it is, but from the transsexual's point of view, it obviously isn't.

My main issue is using public funds for something that these patients really should be paying out of their own pocket. If they want a new genitalia, no problem, but don't make other people pay for it. And for the government to force the province to pay like that, it just seems very wrong to me. It's almost like forcing me to pay for someone's nose job.

 

[lenaitch]

I agree that the courts ruled on the question of law as written. If Ontario didn't think the procedures were a proper use of public dollars, it could have de-listed them at any time.

I'm a little curious as to the intended outcome for the applicant. It doesn't strike me that for someone who

"is in her early 30s, “has experienced significant gender dysphoria"

how keeping both sets of plumbing is going to make things better.

I'm wondering if OHIP will cover at the Ontario rate or the actual Texas rate; I suspect the former.

 

[Blackadder1916]

I'm wondering if OHIP will cover at the Ontario rate or the actual Texas rate; I suspect the former.

A quick look (search for those specific words) in OHIP Schedule of Benefits (SOB) suggests that there is no "Ontario rate" for these specific surgical procedures as part of gender reassignment. While there may be are surgeons in Ontario who perform "vaginoplasty" (some of their websites have commentary about the "tightening" benefit of their services), there is no line item in the schedule detailing a set rate for the surgeons' service (the SOB does not include "hospital costs" as those would be covered under global funding to individual facilities).

The process for requesting prior authorization/funding is discussed in the SOB and at Request for Prior Approval for Funding of Sex-Reassignment Surgery - Central Forms Repository (CFR). The application is for patients seeking services in Ontario, out of province but within Canada or outside of the country. The costs for such may be less in Canada but the availability may be less. Determination of cost would probably include some negotiation with the out of country clinic requested.

 

[GK .Dundas]

Personally I don't see it from the point of whether it's a waste, because when you see it from the taxpayers' point of view it is, but from the transsexual's point of view, it obviously isn't.

My main issue is using public funds for something that these patients really should be paying out of their own pocket. If they want a new genitalia, no problem, but don't make other people pay for it. And for the government to force the province to pay like that, it just seems very wrong to me. It's almost like forcing me to pay for someone's nose job.

Just because you want a new kidney , why should I as taxpayer have to foot the bill ?
It may be apples and oranges , but I'm not so sure. It's a very complex issue. ( as most are )
It encompasses not just physical but mental health issues as well.
I've seen a number of suicides in the Trans community . Working in the hospital has really opened my eyes to a lot of things. In particular entire groups of people that I'd never really noticed before.