> -----Original Message----- > From: Ray Champagne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 12:08 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: A weird question > > Well, I may open up a can of worms here, but why should Transgender > surgery be a benefit that the company has to pay for? I mean, it's not > really a procedure that is born from necessity, right? Do they allow > breast augmentation or other elective plastic surgery in the plan, too?
Some plans do, some plans don't. It's generally not the "company" that makes this determination - it's the health plan. It's rare for any company to customize their plan to the extent of adding or removing procedures. As far as this procedure goes there's several ways to look at it: +) It's going to be rarely done so it's not going to, in and of itself, become a major money sink. Some plans are notorious for blocking access to common procedures or medications to save money. (I had one plan, long ago, that covered acupuncture but not birth control pills.) +) It's a long, drawn-out procedure but not a particularly expensive one. Hormone therapy does a huge amount of the work and the actual surgery can be surprisingly cheap (not cheap enough for an impulse purchase, but cheaper than many major surgeries). +) Most people that get the surgery are otherwise healthy - there's much less chance of complications or additional costs. +) There are sometimes "lifetime" costs that make the procedure "cheaper" than the alternative. For example most health plans cover therapy and stress-related illness - perhaps it's been shown that having the transgender surgery lower these costs and balance the equation? Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:196022 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
