Mercury News
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Dear Editor,
Mercury News reported that New York is considering using Medicaid for transgender surgery. As a student my perspective is that health isn’t just physical well-being but also social and mental well-being. By allowing Medicaid to fund transgender surgeries we would be providing the means to alleviate the cause of depression/health problems so that Medicaid funding can be used towards preventative rather than acute treatment.
A solution could be to annually allocate a percentage of the Medicaid funding towards establishing transgender surgery services and a more equitable and inclusive health services. With increasing costs and demand for drugs, providing preventative measures could help alleviate the drug dependency of many the transgender, thus decreasing overall Medicaid drug expenditure. An increase in mental health of transgender would also increase the productivity of these individuals, thus generating more economic growth and Medicaid funding. Research has shown that because transgender individuals feel disconnected from society, they often underutilize health services, which can lead to more severe health problems. Thus, policies should also create training for employees within Center for Mental Health Services and RADAR geared towards establishing awareness of possible resources available to transgender. Both these health policies will help establish a more preventative care approach to benefit transgender individuals and decrease overall health costs.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Xu
Jennifer, I really appreciate your response to this article. I found it appropriate that you focused on the economic and health reasons for Medicaid coverage of transgender surgery, rather than simply the moral or human rights issues, because I anticipate that these are the points people would use to argue against you. You gave a really well rounded and thorough response to the effects that coverage. Thanks!
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