Well, I ended up adding my voice. If anyone else wants to help out but doesn't know what to say, just go here:
http://bit.ly/1PQgAeaThat's the page for the National Center for Transgender Equality that they set up for this. There's a sample letter at the bottom that you could just copy/paste if you don't know what to say.
It seems like they really need to hear from us too because if you read through all the comments, many of them are extremely disheartening:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketBrowser;rpp=25;po=0;dct=PS;D=HHS-OCR-2015-0006;refD=HHS-OCR-2015-0006-0001Here's one such example:
"Biology cannot be changed, in spite of attempts to do so through change surgeries. Section 1557 does not include gender identity and this proposal expands beyond what is actually in the law. Taxpayers should not be forced through use of their tax dollars to pay for medically unnecessary hormone treatments & change surgeries. Just as most plastic surgery is elective & paid for solely by the individual choosing it, the same for transgenders who choose to pursue such changes."
Another:
"Government wants to defund all Planned Parenthood healthcare services for actual women, and at the same time, provide expensive, dangerous, and unnecessary healthcare services for female impersonators. Fake women are more important than real women, apparently. What a bunch of misogynist clowns that we have elected into office."
The negativity goes on and on. There's far more comments against it than for it.
Oh and here's what I said:
QuoteThe following is an excerpt from my BlueCross BlueShield of Oklahoma's benefits:
WHAT IS NOT COVERED
Except as otherwise specifically stated in the Contract, we do not provide Benefits for services, supplies or
charges:
(...)
In no event will any care and services for breast reconstruction or implantation or removal of breast
prostheses be a Covered Service unless such care and services are performed solely and directly as a result
of mastectomy which is Medically Necessary.
(...)
For transsexual Surgery or any treatment leading to or in connection with transsexual Surgery.
If that isn't blatant discrimination then honestly I don't know what is. With things as they are now, I would literally have to move across the country just to get an insurance plan that could provide the medically necessary care that I need. When someone has to move over 2,000 miles to get the care they need then something is wrong.
It's true that I could potentially pay for all of the medically necessary procedures myself out of pocket but I could also buy a small house or the sports car of my dreams for the same price. I am, currently, unable to continue to move forward with treatment that I need because of the prohibitively expensive costs and an insurance company that outright refuses to cover any of it.
These procedures are not optional, but required to save a life. They are also required by most states before personal documentation, such as the drivers license and birth certificate, can be updated with a new gender marker, permitting the person to live a normal life.
WPATH's guidelines cover what they consider medically necessary. Personally, I would go further and say that Voice Feminization Surgery is also medically necessary for some individuals. If you've ever tried to speak in a voice of the opposite gender then you should understand how difficult this is. If you've ever thought your job stressful, imagine also having to do this every day in addition to your job under the fear of being discriminated against, or potentially the victim of hate crimes, should it fail.
It is still a dark time in the world for transgenders. The world has come a long way with acceptance for gays, both socially, and legally. But the world is still severely lacking in this for transgenders. We are seeing now the same ignorant hate speech once used against gays used against transgenders, even here on this very site.
Maybe you don't have the power to change society as a whole, but I believe that will come in time. What you do have the power to do is the power to save hundreds of thousands of lives. The emotional strain of something so core to one's identity is worse than you can imagine if you haven't lived it. The experience of being a transgender involves one's entire identity. We have to attempt to hide who we really are, living in a lie that feels unnatural in order to live up to others expectations which only leads to self-loathing and shame until it becomes so suffocating that there is no recourse.
When this continues well into adulthood many reach a crisis point where one suffers a complete emotional collapse. As a result, many attempt suicide. Among transgender people who became homeless because of bias against their gender identity, 69% said they had tried to kill themselves. Out of those who had been turned away by a doctor because they were transgender, 60% had attempted suicide sometime in their lives, the survey found. Researchers from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that the risk of attempting suicide was especially severe for transgender people who had suffered discrimination or violence, such as being physically or sexually assaulted at work or school. Even transgender people at comparatively "low" risk were still much more likely to have attempted suicide than the general population, they wrote, with "lows" often ranging from 30% to 40%.
You can help change this. The rule's protections for transgender people are so extremely important. It is essential that the final rule clearly prohibit transgender exclusions in health insurance plans. The proposed rule should be even stronger to better protect all people at risk of discrimination in health coverage or care. The final rule should recognize that discrimination based on sexual orientation is necessarily a form of sex discrimination, and it should not include any new exemption that would permit discrimination based on religious views against women, people with disabilities, LGBT people, or anyone else. There is no excuse for discrimination in health care using federal funds. Finally, HHS should extend the rule to cover all federally funded health programs.
