Sex Change Operations and Your Tax Dollars
Do you feel that your tax dollars should be used to pay for sex change operations for transgender people?
Well, the Obama Administration and the Democrat party does.
Last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a final regulation that a consensus of professionals say, in the end, will force health insurers to pay for transgender surgeries. That includes Medicare, Medicaid and SCOTUScare.
HHS released its final “Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities” rule, a rule that enforces Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
That section: “prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability; enhances language assistance for individuals with limited English proficiency; and protects individuals with disabilities.”
Where in that section does it say transgender or gender identity? I guess they could call it a disability, which would end up opening the door to many other “disabilities”.
I understand that people suffer from this psychological issue, and have no problem with private health insurance covering their surgeries, but I do when you ask the taxpayer to cover them. The question by a "consensus" of doctors is that this type of surgery is elective, and I believe no elective surgeries should be covered by taxpayer dollars. Do you agree with that sentiment?
HHS released a fact sheet on the portion of their rule regarding sex discrimination. President Obama and the Democrat party states that “health care providers cannot refuse to cover all services related to a sex change—such as hormone therapy, breast implants, and the surgery itself—as a matter of policy”.
In that press release, President Obama and the Democrat party stated:
The Section 1557 final rule applies to any health program or activity, any part of which receives funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), such as hospitals that accept Medicare or doctors who receive Medicaid payments; the Health Insurance Marketplaces and issuers that participate in those Marketplaces: and any health program that HHS itself administers
Now we get into the word twisting game. Can you figure this out? The Obama Administration and Democrat party was quoted in a Washington Free Beacon article stating:
The final rule does not require covered entities to cover any particular procedure or treatment for transition-related care, including gender reassignment surgery. However, it does bar a covered entity from categorically excluding from coverage or limiting coverage for all gender transition-related services
I scratch my head and say: What did they say? Do they have to cover the operation or not?
By the way, the Obama administration removed a ban from Medicare covering gender reassignment surgeries back in 2014.
Also, the average surgery cost for a man to become a woman physically is approximately $30,000 and for a woman to become a man physically it is approximately $20,000. Is that sexism? Why does it cost 33% less for women? Smells like a lawyer could make some money off of this, men should start suing someone, wouldn’t you say?
The question for me comes down to whether the sex change operations are elective or not. If it’s elective, then I say no taxpayer dollars.
For those of you who may believe it is elective, many people suffer physiological issues because they believe they need plastic surgery for their nose, breast, liposuction, eye lids, face lift, forehead lift, hair transplantation (wait I would say that is not an elective surgery, will the government pay for mine?), upper arm lift, check and buttock lift and so on.
Where would it end?
Let’s talk about this today on The Live with Renk Show which airs Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon. To let me know your thoughts during the show please call (269) 441-9595.
Or please feel free to start a discussion and write your thoughts in the comment section.