HomeIssue Brief Blog Cutting Coverage for Gender Reassignment Surgery a Terrible Mistake
Cutting Coverage for Gender Reassignment Surgery a Terrible Mistake
In the provincial Budget 2009, coverage for gender reassignment suregery was cut from the list of services covered by Alberta Health.
Alberta has been covering gender reassignment surgery (GRS) for more than a decade. It is generally agreed upon in the medical community that GRS is the only know cure for gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder, thus making it a required surgery.
Approximately 16 Albertan’s have this surgery every year, which costs from $18,000 to $70,000 per person.
The decision to cut GRS coverage has caused a significant uproar, not just in the transgendered and allied communities, but also by people who see this cut as a violation of human rights. To initially smooth things over, transgendered people who were on the waiting list for this surgery were promised that their surgeries would remain covered. However, this has not done much to deflect the growing criticism the Alberta government is receiving (I have even heard rumors that Oprah has been in contact with some of the community leaders who have been in opposition to this legislative blunder.)
Several days ago, after demonstrations from the transgender and allied communities, Health Minister Ron Liepert announced the Alberta Health will be extending the number of people who will receive coverage for GRS before Alberta Health coverage is completely terminated. Those covered now include people who have started paying for hormone replacement therapy in anticipation of getting on the GRS waiting list.
Liepert explained this expanded coverage by pointing out that it isn’t fair that many people have already invested money into hormonal treatments in preparation for their surgery. Hormone replacement therapy is a treatment that is prescribed by medical professionals; however, it is not a treatment that is covered by Alberta Health. It affects a person’s secondary sexual characteristics; only surgery can change a person’s primary sexual characteristics.
What Liepert has clearly not taken into consideration is all the other ways that transgendered people have prepared to their GRS surgery. What about those people who haven’t paid for hormone therapy, but who have lost contact with their entire families because they have not been accepted as they transition? What about those people who have been unable to secure a job, because, in the early stages of their transition they don’t “pass” for the gender that they identify as? Liepert has extended his list of surgeries to be covered but ignored those transgendered people who have made other significant monetary or social sacrifices prior to their GRS.
To go to the bigger picture, there is no way Alberta can eliminate coverage for GRS without violating Canada’s commitment to human rights (no matter how many people our Health Minster tries to include at last minute). Ontario has already found this out; their decision to cut coverage for GRS was recently overruled in court because is was found as a violation of human rights. Premier Stelmach’s response to this was he would not speculate about what happens in other provinces, but then stated “if you're speculating on the fact that some people may challenge the government decision under (the) Alberta Human Rights Commission, then we'll see what happens”.
Two days ago, Alberta’s Transgender community filed a joint human right’s complaint in both Edmonton and Calgary. A massive civil lawsuit is currently in progress. The money that the Alberta government is going to have to pay in court fees is upsetting when you consider that the service they have cut only costs the Alberta Government $700, 00 per year.
The decision to cut GRS coverage was a terrible one. Attempts to appease people by extending coverage to a few more surgeries is not enough, and there is no fair way to determine who has invested more in preparation for their surgery. The bottom line is that all GRS’s deemed necessary by health professionals must be covered. If the Alberta government and Health minister have not realized this yet, then they certainly will once the lawsuits and human rights complaints start filing in.
Awesome point!! And for their 5 cents on a thousand dollars, how much pain will they cause? It's ridiculous when you consider that Alberta has tens of billions dollars in savings.
I heard someone make a really good point about this the other day. They said that the money should not only be put back into GRS, but more money should also be put into educating the Alberta public about one of the most misunderstood communities in the province!
I'm so disappointed in our government! Not only is this an ill-informed and uneconomical move, it is a shameful one.
We should be looking at ways of making our communities more inclusive and welcoming of diversity - not the other way around.
SHAME ON YOU, Liepert and Stelmach! Swallow your pride, remedy your ignorance, and put aside your intolerance. GRS is a human right, and it's time you started treating it like one.
The public release of Tracking the Trends yesterday brought up an interesting point. How does Edmonton's social health compare to growth in the economy? Good question.
Sunday, 05 February 2012 
