Sex, Power, and Politics Blog

I would like to address my thoughts about my lovely commenters’ comments first 🙂

Meghan/Kyle:

“The United States is currently deciding on a new health care plan that would extend coverage to over 36 million people currently without insurance and create a government health insurance program. What does this do to the issue of including trans-sexual and transgender benefits in health care?”

Transgender individuals would then benefit from this coverage as well, unless they are not included in this health care plan just like other insurance plans sometimes do.  Again, the issue here would probably not be about the inclusion of transgender individuals because according to ‘House Health Reform Bill Pleases Homosexual Transgender Lobby’ online article about Obama’s Health Care Bill it states that it,  “would help LGBT people in particular obtain the improved access to health care that the Act is designed to provide” (exposeobama.com).  The major concern is whether or not the plan would include transgender procedures.

**“Why, with the current health care debate, do transgenders deserve a more expedient health care coverage process than the millions upon millions without health care, who are struggling to survive as a result of their lack of coverage?”

The reason millions upon millions of Americans do not have health care is because they cannot afford it, in my debate I do not advocate that insurance companies cover transgender individuals who cannot afford to have insurance because that obviously would not be fair.  I am speaking about those transgender people who can afford to have health care in the first place.  I understand the reality that not everyone is going to be able to have health care, but for those who can afford it and are transgender, all I am suggesting is that they require to include transgender procedures.

Katie:

**“They are currently not owned by the state, and do not need to cover services just because someone wants a certain service.”

The problem with this is, and I stated this in my debate (second paragraph, last sentence), is that they are already covering transgender related procedures; however these are only allowed for non-transgender individuals.  Why then are transgender individuals not able to get these procedures covered for themselves?  Some of the services are already being done, however insurance companies discriminate against transgender by not allowing them to also use them.  Politically, if they are not owned by the state they could do this, but where do these exclusions end? And what good are they if some procedures are already being used?

Also, in my debate, I did not mention whether insurance companies should cover all the needs of transgender individuals.  I focused on the fact that they should at least be included and for insurance companies to require to fund transgender/transsexual necessities.  I understand that “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, however asking to be included in the plan does not suggest that the plan will pay for everything, but to know that you are included in a plan and may have the opportunity to be partially covered is better than to not be at all.

Leigh Ann:

** “Even if transgender people were provided with health insurance, how can services be made fair and of the highest quality?”

I agree with the fact that there needs to be more work on how doctors and specialists treat transgender individuals and there obviously has to be more doctors that practice transgender procedures, but again this has to do with the fact that transgender are excluded from health care at times and/or that their procedures are not being covered therefore there are less people qualified to conduct them.  For the second part of this statement, how do you measure quality?  This could be argued for non-transgender procedures as well.  How does a patient know that they are getting the highest quality?  One just assumes that their doctor is going to the best job he can do.  This changes however if whoever is administrating care is discriminatory against transgender individuals, which you point out; but this is not only an issue that only transgender people deal with, other groups also deal with this.

Jamie:

** “In order for the individual to change his/her lifestyle and to be socially recognized as the opposite sex, it is not always necessary to undergo any sort of surgical procedure”

Yes this is very true.  Not every individuals needs to have a sex change, because ultimately this depends on the person.  As I mentioned before in my debate, not every individual is going to need or want the same procedure.  However, what it feels like you are trying to say is that because there are other ways to feel of the opposite sex that surgical procedures are not necessary, which is assuming that people can stand and deal with their biological sex.  For transgender individuals undergoing surgical procedures is a necessity, they are trapped in a body that they do not want to be in, this affects their lifestyles on a day to day basis.  Also, just because some do not need to undergo a surgical procedure does not mean that it would be fair to get rid of this option, because there are those who absolutely need it.

Ashley:

**“This argument seems a little shaky because it does conjure up a parallel to a person who was born with a less than desirable body (as portrayed by mainstream society: thin, muscular, curvy, white) and has always wanted the kind of body that would gain more attention, or one that would not be a subject of teasing or ridicule”

I understand the story about the women who get ridiculed for being flat chested.  Confession time, I too am self conscious about my breast; I have been made fun of as well, however I am comfortable with my biological sex and what it means to me to be a womyn.  I love the fact that I have what I have because my mind is also comfortable with it.  The women that you are describing are the ones that are self conscious about what she has, for transgender individuals it has to with more than that.

There is a difference between disliking your body for how it looks like and another for disliking your body for what it is, in other words most transgender individuals cannot stand their biological sex to the point that they want to completely change it, whereas breast augmentations deals with altering your body to make it look ‘better’.  I also do not believe that transgender change their bodies to get attention, most do it because it is necessary for themselves and not for what others may see it, which is what the women who is insecure about her breast is ultimately doing it for others.

Ashley/Jamie:

**“The bottom line is that the doctor is in no way kept from reaching his or her potential by insurance companies refusing to cover transsexuals’ surgeries.”

By looking at this in your perspective I agree, maybe what I was trying to say was the following: Insurance companies are keep doctors from potentially performing more surgeries than they otherwise would if insurance could cover these procedures.  But, because many transgender individuals cannot afford these procedures because without health insurance to cover at least part of the total cost, surgery becomes out of the question.

Now I would like to say a few things about my opposing side 🙂

Rachel, I really enjoyed reading your debate because you brought a new concept to the question.  I do agree with you when you state that transgender individuals should not be viewed as individuals with a mental disorder.  But I disagree with when you state that until the medical community changes this term that transgender individual should not be covered under health insurance.  My questions for you are the following ones: While you stand on this principle, what are people suppose to do in the meantime?  You cannot forget about the fact that transgender individuals are still going to be suffering inside their own bodies until they are able to obtain help to be able to pay for their transgender procedural needs.  According to ‘The National Coalition for LGBT Health’ article studies of transgender populations have reported, “suicidal ideation rates as high as 64% and suicide attempts rates ranging from 16% to 37% with most attributing their ideation or attempts to their gender identity issues” (2).  Though this term is not the best term to use interchangeably for transgender individuals, I believe that the movement to require insurance companies to provide cover should not be put to halt for this issue because it is a necessity that needs to be taken care of now rather than later.

Also, what are you proposing on doing to change this?  And how long is it going to take? Equality for transgender individuals is going to take a long time, time which some transgender people cannot wait for.  It reminds me about what we talked about in class today and of the individual with a rock on their head; is it fair for them to be waiting while they could be doing something to change it?  You say that insurance companies should not be require to cover because they are treating this like an illness and by doing so they are in a way prohibiting transgender equality; however I believe that including transgender procedures in health insurance is an important step that acknowledges transgender individuals rather than completely ignoring their necessities.  Lastly, I would like to comment on your analogy, “This, to me, is similar to putting the band-aid on top and expecting all the hurt to instantly go away”; to this I would like to say that though the bandage is not going to take the pain completely away, it is better to have the bandage then to have no bandage at all.  Though I do not agree with the terms used either, I would rather have transgender individuals get covered than excluding them altogether.

http://www.exposeobama.com/2009/11/09/house-health-reform-bill-pleases-homosexual-transgender-lobby/

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 3:36 am and is filed under SPP Debate Club 09. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.