16 Myths about Gender Confirmation Surgery

[Guest LizMarie]

This is an excellent article that debunks many of the popular myths about GCS. GCS is not for everyone, but if you need it, this will help people to understand both why, and the obstacles you face.

16 Myths about Gender Confirmation Surgery

[Guest Eva Marie]

That was so true, finding out more every day.....Thanks

Eva

[Cyndee]

Good read, privacy really matters when there are too many weirdos out there, too much ignorance....

C -

[Guest]

for posting LizMarie.

A wonderful article.

Certainly not all of us feel we need GCS, education is the key thing however.

Huggs,

Joann

[VickySGV]

I had originally read this in the Huff Post version. The fact that we are a small group overall, and in many cases deemed "not worth the time to learn about" because the chances of actually having one of us as a friend or family member seem too remote to other people. The result is that they pick up on the "cute, catchy" dismissal phrases which abound in daily life and use them without having a single ounce of depth of their meaning.

A point that I wish Brynn had included in this is that in medical insurance coverage, emergency treatment for suicide attempts, with heroic medical and surgical intervention, and extended hospitalization is covered, in most cases exceeding 5 or more times the cost of GCS. Expand those costs by multiple suicide or harm attempts by the same sufferer, and its a no-brainer to any one who has ever pillaged their piggy bank as a child.

[Guest ashleynikole]

Wow Vicky, I didn't know that.

Sometimes people don't see the forest through the trees and most of the times it's the people at the insurance companies who count the pennies.

SMH

Ashley

[Guest LizMarie]

Wow Vicky, I didn't know that.

Sometimes people don't see the forest through the trees and most of the times it's the people at the insurance companies who count the pennies.

SMH

Ashley

Exactly, which tells you that the position of the insurance companies isn't even in their own financial best interests. So why take it? Centuries of false indoctrination in a set of persistent cultural lies that the people running those organizations refuse to let go of.

You realize that those organizations that objected to female birth control were met with insurance companies that then offered to cover contraceptives at their own cost? Why? Because the statistical data showed that women who had access to cheap (or free) and easy to get birth control were less likely to need more expensive procedures, including abortions, for example.

And yet these same actuaries and insurance company executives try to deny this claiming some financial incentive. Well, the reality is beginning to seep out. For each $10,000 in premium costs, trans medical costs, including GCS being covered adds 42.5 cents per year to each insured person. That's about 3.5 cents per month. When you factor in the reduction in suicides and associated costs, that number goes negative and represents profit.

Yet those same companies refuse to pick up that profit laying there on the floor.

That is how deeply ingrained the lies and myths about GCS are within our society.

[Guest KimberlyF]

Insurance companies have historically looked at short term losses as the 'big picture'. It's only recently that ideas like shelling out a little for yearly preventative care increases the long term bottom line. Now, instead of fighting for certain tests, some companies demand some criteria is met, and appointments kept, or the rates go up.

The article is typical in that it is written for its core audience, disproves myths with a mix of facts, opinions and playing with numbers, and the same thing gets reprinted in almost the same format every year or so.

Of course, if this author is an authority on things, she's the same one that says don't use 'Cis'. I'm sure we'll continue to pick and choose when this author represents us.