Sex-change operations cost NHS £250,000 over five years

[Shana A]

Sex-change operations cost NHS £250,000 over five years

Mar 5 2010 by Martin Bagot

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/03/05/sex-change-operations-cost-nhs-250-000-over-five-years-92746-25968815/

SEX change operations have cost the NHS in Coventry and Warwickshire a quarter of a million pounds in the last five years.

Twenty-three people have undergone gender swap surgery, according to figures obtained by the Telegraph.

At an average cost of £10,700, at least £247,000 was spent on the surgery in the last five years.

[Catherine]

I pay taxes I should get the free medical care that I am due. What is their problem.

Compared to the care of smokers and drinkers it is a drop in the ocean.

[Miniar]

wonder what the mental health care cost for life would amount to without surgery....

[tekla]

any statistic in isolation is pretty much useless.

[Sarah B]

Hi Catherine

I must certainly agree with what you said.  Absolutely spot on Bingo!!!!

See this article on smoking costs, and if one does the maths it costs the NHS £365 million pounds per year and this is just for smoking.

I wonder why they were just picking on gender surgery and not the smoking or even the drinking costs that occur to the NHS system?  The journalists that write these types of articles are nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites bigots and trying to increase the circulation for the papers that they work for.

Kind regards
Sarah B

[Autumn]

Of course.

I *ALWAYS* bitch that gastric bypass is more expensive than SRS. So is general diabetic care. Smoking related illnesses. Liver disease. SRS is actually REALLY frigging cheap for a major operation, like, nothing at all. It's just that most operations you have get paid for by insurance. Or you go to a county hospital and throw the bill away if they won't settle with you.

I mean, at worst, if a MTF has plastic surgery, breast implants, and SRS along with electrolysis and laser, you're looking at what, $100,000? Far less for most people. Do I think BA and FFS should be covered by insurance? At the moment, no, I'd just like to have my blood work paid for... one thing at a time.

Compare most people here getting out at $50k or less... that's virtually nothing. Most of the vehicles in this town cost that much or more. Or a conservative $30k~ for SRS and electrolysis+laser face only?

It's just when you're a normal person, who's grown up struggling with the ->-bleeped-<- we do because of our problems.... heh.

[Catherine]

Hi Catherine

I must certainly agree with what you said.  Absolutely spot on Bingo!!!!

See this article on smoking costs, and if one does the maths it costs the NHS £365 million pounds per year and this is just for smoking.

I wonder why they were just picking on gender surgery and not the smoking or even the drinking costs that occur to the NHS system?  The journalists that write these types of articles are nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites and trying to increase the circulation for the papers that they work for.

Kind regards
Sarah B

I disagree with one thing in your reply. The media are not Hypocrites.... they are bigots

[tekla]

Yeah but smoking also makes the government huge amounts of money too, so the end numbers are more than likely a wash.

[Sarah B]

Hi Catherine

I stand corrected and the change has been done.  In actual fact a lot more terms should be added.

Kind regards
Sarah B

[Flan]

not noted is that on average only 4-5 surgeries are approved each year meaning it could be a whole lot "worse". (going by 10k quid a pop)

[spacial]

The comparisons with other treatments are as wrong as the singling out of SRS.

People get the treatment they need.

One of the replies in the link claims the cost is less than treating obesity. Besides being utterly wrong, this is not the way to approach this.

Patients must come first. That is the purpose of the NHS.

The cost of administering the NHS are where the real waste occurs.

[tekla]

People get the treatment they need.

I'll bet that is not even close to being true.

[spacial]

People get the treatment they need.

I'll bet that is not even close to being true.

Possibly not.

But that is the principal of the NHS and bitching about who gets what and who deserves treatment more is dividing patients.

I have recently done a series of jobs on NHS building programs. In one area, numerous patient areas were being turned into offices. Another was a new hospital where over 60% of the space is offices.

In every NHS building job, there are numerous changes to plans, structures being build then torn down and rebuilt because some administrator changes their mind or some new committee takes over or some person get promoted ad wants something different from their predecessor.

This is where the waste is. Not patients.

I am getting especially angry at the attacks on obese people in recent years. Most of these are based upon dishonest statistics or just false claims.

But in any case, obese people have as much right to treatment as anyone else.

[Catherine]

Hi Catherine

I stand corrected and the change has been done.  In actual fact a lot more terms should be added.

Kind regards
Sarah B

I bet I could think of a few names too.. 

[armozel]

Governments can't economically calculate!
/Mises

[juliekins]

I mean, at worst, if a MTF has plastic surgery, breast implants, and SRS along with electrolysis and laser, you're looking at what, $100,000? Far less for most people. Do I think BA and FFS should be covered by insurance? At the moment, no, I'd just like to have my blood work paid for... one thing at a time.

I believe that BA, electrolysis, hormones and SRS should be covered 100%. As for FFS, in some cases it is necessary to complete a successful life change. Since beauty is subjective, perhaps they could reimburse the patient at a 50% level for FFS. Here in the States, insurance companies will pay for implants after a woman has a mastectomy after breast cancer. Breasts are an important part of presenting as a female!