Fertility treatment vs Gender Dysphoria treatment

[GimmieABreakOr3]

I work for a major health insurance company and I am disturbed that our cover includes gender dysphoria treatment including up to £200 for mastectomy bras (feel I could do with this just as a biological female) but not for cover for fertility treatment.

I absolutely despair and feel even more depressed and hopeless prior to checking my cover.

I have private medical insurance through my job - very limited (if any) care for menopause too. I imagine that there is considerable help available for the man who has erectile dysfunction tho'

It's the old "trans people will kill themselves if they don't get medical treatment" idea.

It wouldn't likely work to transfer that to fertility, because everyone would see that if someone is saying "if I don't have a child i'm going to kill myself" the real problem isn't about their fertility, In fact, maybe having a child would not be a good idea for someone thinking that way.

For some reason gender stuff is treated completely differently to all other issues.

Or should it be gender dysphoria versus body dysmorphia. Why should a man who thinks his perfectly functioning body is not ‘female’ enough get covered for plastic surgery, when a man whose body is not ‘uber male’ enough not get pec implants and jaw surgery?
Why doesn’t a woman with small breasts get gender affirming boob jobs?
I don’t want to delve into post partum reconstructive surgery as I know nothing about it, but there’s certainly more need for it than random men’s vaginoplasties.

Im assuming your insurer is staying on the right side of stonewall for now, but soon enough, no one will think stonewall is a reliable barometer.

Our local intergrated care board has 2 pages of guidelines for GPs on how to support trans women in receipt of hormone treatment. Including estrogen level testing every 3 - 6 months for trans women.

The same board provides 1 single paragraph for actual women on HRT. There is ZERO differentiation made for women on HRT who have gone through the menopause naturally, vs women of a pre menopausal age who require essential HRT because they have zero ovarian function. And none of us are entitled to any hormone level testing....

If the healthcare response genuinely was about concerns over mental health and suicide rates, then PMDD would be taken a hell of a lot more seriously than it is.

It affects around 1 in 12 women. Up to 72% of those women struggle with suicidal ideation during symptomatic times, 51% engage in self harm during symptomatic times and up to 34% attempt suicide.

Yet women (even with a long and well evidenced history of symptoms) are still routinely denied life saving treatment such as contraception, GnRH therapy, oophorectomies and HRT despite the high prevelance of suicidality tied to the condition.

They give the medication they deny us to men so easily...There's something rotten and corrupt at the core of all this gender BS. And none of it is to do with their so called "risk to life".

Rubbish

I could argue changing gender as a lifestyle choice!

Do they do cover hair removal for women with PCOS?

I think the smaller individual comparisons like @Coatsoff42 would be useful.

Private health care is financially driven. Not medically driven. If a treatment they fund starts to attract high litigation costs, I would be unsurprised if that treatment were to cease being offered.

Not all private health care packages are equal. They only insure what is listed, which varies massively between policies. And will wriggle out of paying if they can.

Yep. These companies exist to make a profit, nothing more.

Unfortunately it's not about fairness or equitable access, it's a business transaction. The premiums would skyrocket if they covered fertility treatment.

This is why I really hope we don't end up with a US style insurance based medical system. A friend gave birth pre term they're, then she couldn't leave her job to be with her baby in special care because the job was paying for the insurance covering the baby (edit: and ofc, only 2 weeks mat leave). Its really twisted.

It covers hair removal? That's absolutely elective. There are hirsute women out there.

I bet women with hormone imbalances/PCOS don't get free hair removal on your insurance.

Maddening.

It shouldn't cover hair removal or boob jobs tbh. Neither of those are offered to women.

It covers boob jobs too?! Can't they just accept what growth they get with oestrogen? If they can't, they should self-pay for what is very much elective cosmetic surgery.

Other than in the case of reconstruction after a necessary mastectomy (if the woman opts for reconstruction, nothing wrong with not doing), bigger boobs are never ever 'necessary'.

I've always had smallish breasts, does that make me less of a woman?

Exactly. I have PCOS. NHS won’t cover hair removal for me because they claimed it was cosmetic (it’s not) do they expect me to just walk around with a tash and beard as a young female in a client facing position? Laser hair removal and electrolysis are extremely lengthy and costly treatments.

I just find it maddening and really deeply upsetting that as a woman I am denied certain treatments for a hormone condition that I had no choice in get those who are choosing to change gender get more access to care / treatments than I do. It’s just another example of injustice and medical inequality.

Understand that private medical insurance is profit driven but even NHS are excluding me.

@GimmieABreakOr3 I wonder what would happen if you told them you were identifying as a transwoman now. I wonder if you could get a free boob job and electrolysis to affirm you as a more doll-like fake feminine appearing transwoman as opposed to an actual woman who needs no affirming and has to just get on with it.

TIMs should be up in arms about being offered this treatment. They say they want to be treated like women, and here they are, being treated instead like very special men. They should complain and demand that they are denied this treatment, just like real women.

ha! Yes!

That’s a good point!

Sorry, didn't mean to offend. Yes this site is primary UK but I came here once r/Gender Critical & Ovarit got shut down bc there are very few other places where one can discuss these topics openly anymore. I'm not the only Yankee who hangs here tho.

The discussion took a turn of comparing coverage in US and UK and that's why I chimed in. My lol wasn't intended to mock you was more about the idea that US insurers would choose to cover anything they weren't legally required to cover, and even then they find ways to wriggle out of it. With the exception of trans, which I assume is bc they see the ROI in positive PR - which that industry desperately needs as literally everyone hates the system. I'm sure you've heard how utterly broken our insurance system is here, so the thought of "well they could cover this or that" is lol bc they literally find ways to get out of covering /capping cancer treatments. Keep in mind #1 cause of personal bankruptcy in US is medical debt.

I see, ok. I thank you for your reply and for clearing that up! Absolutely fine for fellow yanks to come here…