Should the Government Pay for a Sex Change?

[lisarenee]

Most therapists refuse to accept Medicare.

This is because Medicare doesn't want to pay them anything to speak of (some doctors have said they actually lose money on each Medicare patient and that accepting it is in effect charity) and if they accept even one Medicare patient, the government sticks them with a bunch of rules/requirements.

[diane 2606]

I wouldn't mind (though I sadly suspect it would become a slippery slope to full single payer) a catastrophic fund that would cover the expensive stuff (Hospitalization, Surgery including SRS and certain FFS, etc...), while preventing the insane delays for basic/routine care seen under the British or Canadian systems by keeping the private healthcare system.

I've gotta ask, because I don't know, are the systems in the UK and Canada inherently inefficient with basic care, or is it that there are too few medical personnel to handle the need? Personally I'm a big fan of single-payer because it gets  insurance companies out of the equation. Full disclosure: I'm old and my healthcare needs are met through Medicare. It's not an entitlement because I paid into it every working day of my life, in case you were wondering.

And another thing, referring to this as "government pay for sex change" has got it backwards. Reality is we, through our tax dollars, provide money that the government uses at our direction (provided our congressional representatives do their jobs) for things we the people feel are worthy. The government is the administrator of the money we give it. It's not creating money to do whatever it pleases.

[lisarenee]

I've gotta ask, because I don't know, are the systems in the UK and Canada inherently inefficient with basic care, or is it that there are too few medical personnel to handle the need?

My guess would be that it is less profitable and as a result less people enter the profession. Here in the US, Medicare (which is essentially single payer for those 65 and over) pays doctors next to nothing and saddles them with extra rules/requirements, which is why many doctors won't accept Medicare.