The Question Was

Should Transgender[ed] people be allowed gender-altering surgery?

[ed: on WebAnswers.com a site that allows folks to earn bits of revenue from AdSense after 50 posts]

Male children born with Androgen Insufficiency Syndrome (an inter-sexed state) are commonly reared as girls because their bodies do not respond to the presence of androgens. They need genital surgery or surgeries; and estrogen as they become teens. Performing gender reassignment surgery on AIS adult females to look like men does not work because their bodies are not capable of responding to the necessary androgen treatments. Consequently, for good reason it just isn't done.



Trans-genderism is by definition a medical condition which deserves treatment just like any other medical condition. Prospects for sexual reassignment surgery in the USA must go through extensive psychological screening and counseling and hormone treatments and live as the favored gender for set periods of time before being allowed to initiate the process of gender reassignment surgeries. (Often, it is surgeries that are needed, and not just one surgery).



Because transgenderism is a bona fide medical condition and not merely a "whim," insurance companies should absorb the costs of counseling, hormone treatment, and the necessary surgeries at rates comparable to other conditions. Co-pays for care related to transgenderism should be no more than standard co-pays for any other condition. 



Historically, some percentage of trans-gendered people have taken jobs in strip bars catering to customers who want to see strippers who have their mothers' bosoms and their fathers' appendages in order to pay for medical care at a time when no insurance company would cover trans-genderism. A small percentage of trans-gendered people have committed crimes in order to be sentenced to prisons. The prisons will often opt to arrange for gender reassignment surgeries in order to maintain safety and order among the prison population. And some trans-gendered folk opt to obtain gender reassignment surgeries in other countries where qualifications are more relaxed or where the process is not as long as it is here in the USA. The process in the USA can take eight years or longer from initial psych screening to completion of the last surgery.



Certainly, the preferable and beneficial option for a civilized compassionate society is to offer medically competent care to trans-gendered folk who opt for either hormone treatments alone or for hormone treatments plus gender reassignment surgeries paid for by insurance dollars.


radical sapphoq on transgenderism


the thing underneath here should bring you to the question and my answer (alas, not chosen as the best, but I think it was a quality answer) on the webanswers site.


Should Transgender people be allowed gender altering surgery?