Manitoba Trans-coverage

[Guest Chris_421]

From The Winnipeg Sun -

The Manitoba government quashed a health department suggestion earlier this year to fully fund the cost of sex reassignment surgeries, hormone treatments and other procedures necessary to perform sex changes.

Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross, who made an official government visit to a Montreal clinic that performs sex reassignment surgeries last November, refused to say last week whether a departmental submission in support of funding made it to Treasury Board earlier this year.

"Those discussions are confidential. I can't say whether it was or wasn't (discussed)," Irvin-Ross said.

However, a source said a request did go to Treasury Board, a subcommittee of Premier Gary Doer's cabinet that makes funding decisions. The request was denied, the source said.

An internal government document marked "confidential," which was recently obtained by the Sun, outlines the case for funding the full gamut of treatments for people afflicted with Gender Identity Disorder, a recognized mental health condition which leaves people with a desire to live as the opposite sex.

"Manitoba has no standards of care for Gender Identity Disorder in spite of the fact that internationally accepted standards exist," the document states. "Coverage is denied on the basis that treatments are cosmetic, experimental or not medically necessary, contrary to all available evidence."

Irvin-Ross acknowledged Gender Identity Disorder is a diagnosable condition recognized by the World Health Organization and contained in the American Psychiatric Association's manual of mental health disorders, and said it is something her government is considering improving service for.

'Slowing the pace'

"We're always looking at what we can do to provide services for Manitobans," she said. "As we move forward with our Healthy Sexuality strategy, we'll talk about what our next steps will be.

"With the economic times we're in, we're slowing the pace on a number of initiatives."

Irvin-Ross said the purpose of her trip last fall to the Centre Metropolitain de Chirurgie Plastique, a world-renowned clinic in Montreal that performs sex reassignment surgeries, was "when and if we develop a made-in-Manitoba strategy, to see what it would look like."

Irvin-Ross said there are fewer than 20 Manitobans per year likely to seek a sex change, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars per person.

Those seeking a sex change must go through a multi-step process, most of which Manitobans now must pay out of their own pockets. Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario and B.C. all pay for the full gamut of services.

Those steps include an assessment, diagnosis of GID, hormone therapy to suppress estrogen or testosterone while boosting the other, which can cost $350 per month, living in the new gender for at least one year prior to surgery (changing driver's licences, etc.), then finally having surgery, which alone can cost up to $60,000.

Manitoba currently has no public funding in place for hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery, as well as having no funding mechanism in place for clinical psychologists to bill the province for GID diagnoses.

If you check out the comments I've been posting as Chris - F.O.N. (Freak of nature, due to someone else's comment, felt like being a bit of a brat.)

[Guest Donna Jean]

Hey, Honey....

Could you possibly get us a link?

That sure would help!

Thanks a bunch!

Donna Jean

[Guest Chris_421]

My bad! Forgot to post that along side!

NDP denies request

Also there is another article along side it about EGALE and their thoughts.

'Shameful and unethical' decision

[Guest Evan_J]

I gotta co-sign skeleTonya on this one, if I have to pay for my hrt out of pocket (which I actually have done more than once) its 70bucks for enough for 4months. If I add syringes and the doctors office visit charge, approx 130 TOTAL (70+40 office charge and misc 10bucks toward syringes). The "expensive" part is bloodwork and therapy before being referred but shouldn't mental health be a basic coverage for EVERYbody? and likewise a doctors request for blood. God knows there's no shortage or reasons they draw it from you for everything else.

The one possible time HRT can become expensive for a FtM is if that person can't take injections or chooses not to. But those are in large part (I think ) exceptions. The gels I know are REALLY expensive. Not sure about the patches. -Though most guys opt out of those anyway if only because they worry about transferring the hormone off their skin onto someone who is not in transition (most notably gfs who don't want facial hair )But in those cases I can see it being "case by case". If its just a matter of just "choosing" then pay it out of pocket. If theres a medical reason why a guy can't though? Is there not enough room for one exception?

Actual "it can be done cost of hrt for a FtM? (using the office visit included figure) Under 400 dollars for the year. And having heard guys call off the pharmacy cost of T in a multitude of cities I don't feel uncomfortable thinking that price is pretty much "universal" at least in the U.S.

[Sally]

With the hormones most prescribed for MTFs being on the Pharmacy's generic reduced price list one of them would be $10 for three month supply, OK $40 a year for one if the other is on it too then you are looking at $80 a year for the drugs so how much blood work and doctor's visits is it going to take to get to $350 a month - Weekly?

I hate news organizations in general - the facts were the first casualty in the newspaper's circulation wars and radio and TV ratings certainly did nothing to revive it.

No, facts are not present in most news stories, this one is no exception.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest Jean Davis]

Well, you know the government, they just don't think like the rest of us . When we need something we get off our kesters go down to the store and get it . When they need something they tell someone else to go get it and they have to make out a mountain of paperwork and tell someone else to order it and um well you get what I'm getting at here. That's why they have to pay a $1000 for a hammer or $800 for a toilet seat. (Rough estimates I don't remember the actual amounts when those stories were being broadcasted)

Jean Davis

[Guest Joanna Phipps]

If I had to pay for my HRT, it would cost me only $50 a month, and surgery is more like $15,000-$20,000 on average.

Skeletonia, the figures quoted are in Canadian dollars which for the last several decades has run 65-70% of the us buck. I admit that 60K is likely high but in Canadian dollars its more like 30-35K with the hrt at somewhere near 80/mo.

[Guest Zabrak]

Skeletonia, the figures quoted are in Canadian dollars which for the last several decades has run 65-70% of the us buck. I admit that 60K is likely high but in Canadian dollars its more like 30-35K with the hrt at somewhere near 80/mo.

Its still lies.

Guess how much I pay a month for my HRT? 2$ and 50 cents a month. One bottle is 20$ and lasts me 8 months. Manitoba can't be *THAT* different then B.C.

Surgery is cheaper here then what SkeleTonya claimed...by the way. Some/most of it is covered by the goverment if you make minimum wage.

So whomever got these numbers don't know anything about being trans. At lest about being a transmen.

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

Its still lies.

Guess how much I pay a month for my HRT? 2$ and 50 cents a month. One bottle is 20$ and lasts me 8 months. Manitoba can't be *THAT* different then B.C.

Surgery is cheaper here then what SkeleTonya claimed...by the way. Some/most of it is covered by the goverment if you make minimum wage.

So whomever got these numbers don't know anything about being trans. At lest about being a transmen.

Even in the ridiculous land of the United States, HRT doesn't usually cost $80 a month. Even without insurance mine is only like $25 a month. It might be different for the ladies.