Updated: Fri Apr. 10 2009 10:17:04

ctvcalgary.ca

Some trans-gender people awaiting surgery are considering legal action against the province.

On Tuesday, the province announced it would no longer fund gender reassignment surgery.

The government claims it will continue to fund surgeries approved before March 31st but some patients are getting a different story.

Prior to Tuesday's budget announcement, Mercedes Allen was scheduled for an August surgery.

Allen says she was told her procedure is now cancelled. "What we are hearing when we are inquiring is that 'no, everything is effective immediately.' There is still some confusion that needs to be clarified," says Allen.

CTV News contacted Alberta Health to clarify the confusion.

At this point, health officials aren't able to say why patients approved for surgery are being told their surgeries are cancelled but they are looking into the issue.

At least 12 Albertans are planning to take their cause to the courts.

"There is a group of us looking to file a class-action lawsuit and I am in the process of figuring out the paperwork for a human rights complaint," says Gryphon.

The Ontario government went through a similar battle.

In 1998, that province stopped funding gender reassignment operations. But a series of human rights complaints prompted the province to reinstate its funding for the surgeries.

Comments are now closed for this story

Doug
This elective surgery should be subject to change like any other.

Changes to funded procedures has always fluctuated with the governments(our)ability to pay.

Darin
They haven't got a hope in hell in winning that lawsuit, since when does the province pay for elective cosmetic surgeries.

Brad
Shame on Alberta once again.

For the couple dozen people who get the operation a year--I would have to agree with another comment--"Let's get our priorities straight".

There is no question in my mind that this procedure should be covered.

joe
ADAM...YOUR ARE RIGHT ON,,, WELL SAID AND I AGREE WITH YOU 100%

Lsrry
I had a heart attack and a stroke. I had to pay for my wheelchair and walker. I still have not had the publice health Home Care Services come to help me. If they do I hae to pay for everything. My prothesic foot cost me money. If health care does come they cant rovide the servies that I need. I have to be helped in an out of the tub and the toilet. If I go to the Cardiac Wellness class at the Talisman Centre it will cost me $250.00 I need the Handybus to get there but I have turned down for it.

Why are we funding sex change operations?

Zoe Brain
19c per Albertan. That's what it costs to save a dozen lives a year.

Here's what the medical Standards of Care say about the surgery:

"Sex reassignment is not "experimental," "investigational," "elective," "cosmetic," or optional in any meaningful sense.

Not elective. Not optional. Not cosmetic.

Given the precedent set by the Ontario decisions, a suit is guaranteed, one that the province is guaranteed to lose, with attendent costs.

That's because surgery is just the culmination of a multi-year series of treatments, some of which will have long-term adverse health consequences if surgery is not performed.

The irony is that over 5 years, the recurring additional dollar costs of not having surgery outweigh the one-off cost involved. That's why it was listed in the first place, despite political opposition.

M B Owler
De-list the free "cut and paste service" and be done with it. This is _not_ a "human rights" issue. It's a bunch of people carping that they got the wrong parts in the chromosome lottery. Big deal.

Some of us are paying hefty premiums for being able to do things that these so-called "trans-gender" folks take for granted (ie. drive a car, see clearly, walk without pain, and breathe freely). We're waiting to see medical specialists, and getting nowhere fast. Alberta Health won't help us. Some of us have lost our jobs, and for us, the price of being healthy and employable has just gone up.

I have absolutely no patience or sympathy for folks who wail and moan about having unwanted--but perfectly functional--body parts. After paying out $1100 for an eye exam. reading glasses and bifocals last month, I am damn tired of hearing about their "human rights" and "special status"....

Brian
I'm amazed at the people who commented that this surgery is cosmetic.

Wake up people, this is a medically prescribed treatment for patients who have gender identity issues.

The requirements to get the surgery are long, and not just anyone gets it.

Bev.
I think we should file a suit against the government for having ever covered such surgery at taxpayers expense.
If someone wants (there is no need) that kind of surgery it should be entirely at their own expense.

J Germain
I find the lack of tolerance and education in this province and country appalling, learn about the issue or matter you're speaking of before you shoot your mouth off. In case you haven't noticed, the government has caused larger problems that also affect YOU. Had they not given all the tax breaks to suck up to oil companies, there would be no deficit; but because your employers are greedy, they did not pay taxes they should have, pocketed the money they fell short of, and laid you off.

bob
eye exams (For adults) and dental are not covered, but a sex change is? My kids wear glasses and I pay for the glasses!! exam is covered for the kids, but is a sex change more important?

Tired of Leeches
In no way do I want my tax money going to cover costs for this kind of surgery. It is no different than cosmetic enhancements. If these people want to "feel good about themselves", they can pay for it.

dleed403
Gender reassignment is a personal choice, not a "right". People are on lengthy waiting lists for chemo, etc. which in the real world should come before selfish immature behaviour.

James Tee
Adam and others: Gender dysphoria / Gender identity disorder actually IS a medical issue (listed in the DSM-IV manual), and not simply a matter of 'choice'. These are individuals whose 'core' gender identity is that of a gender that is opposite to the anatomy that they are born with. It is a recognized condition and one that, in most provinces, requires a full confirmatory diagnostic evaluation prior to allowance of medical cost coverage. These are transexuals - not to be confused with 'drag-queens' or 'cross-dressers' who DO choose to play the part of the opposite gender but who do NOT identify their core gender identity with the opposite sex.

Also on a separate note, although the homosexual and transgender communities ally themselves simply out of a being targets of a common prejudice, one should be clear not to relate the two: homosexuality is a matter of innate SEXUAL ORIENTATION, whereas transexuality is a matter of innate GENDER IDENTITY. Quite different things.

Stacy
Adam and LindaE have it exactly right on. Enough spending taxpayer money on this cosmetic surgery, just because it's a 'PC' and touchy subject.

Ned Chiwalski
This is not a human rights issue and should not be wasting the courts time. This is an issue for a very very small group of individuals. It is not a life saving procedure, it is cosmetic surgery, that’s it and as such should not be paid for by the taxpayer. If the gender challenged people don’t like it, then please move to a province that will pay for it and waste their tax dollars.

Mercedes
It is a mistake to think ot GRS as cosmetic. The web link to the right of this article points to a page that discusses how GRS is in fact a medically necessary procedure.

There are a lot of incorrect assumptions that are made about transsexuals, and I think when Albertans take the time to learn who they really are, it would shed a great deal of light on this issue.

kit
An important clarification. Sex reassignment surgery is not comparable to cosmetic surgery. Sex reassignment surgery facilitates trans-persons being recognized as they see themselves. A shallow interpretation may read this as cosmetic, but comes the privileged position of someone who has never been assaulted for not conforming to gender norms. It comes from a position of someone who has never been fired or harassed in the work place upon discovery that one is not the sex someone *assumed them to be. Note that the trans-person is not the problem, someone assuming someone's sex and gender and then assuming it is their place to control it is.

Cosmetic surgery does not reduce the likelihood that one will be assaulted on their way home, fired form a job, or harassed by friends, teachers, and strangers. Sex reassignment surgery does reduce the likelihood of assaults related to hate based violence.

Devan
This is a matter of the government denying access to a medical procedure that has been proven through numerous studies from the 80s on to not only improve the lives of the people impacted by it, but also, in many cases, save those lives. It is a clear message that this government places no value upon the well being and lives of this group of individuals that is differentiated solely from the general population by their gender identities and the necessity that they have for medical intervention.

If prevalence of a condition in the general population was any indicator, cutting funding to fight many other medical services would follow under the same logic. Face it. They aren't doing this to increase funding in other fields.

LindaE, just putting it out there that the funding being withdrawn is not being put towards other essential services.

Adam, I am sorry to hear you went through that and, personally, I think that dental and orthodontic work should be covered in a "socialized" health care model. However, I don't see how sexual reassignment surgery is orthodontic.

Don, I'm not sure if you're insinuating that trans people should become federal prisoners in order to gain access to funding, but I think you should check your privilege if you think that this medical procedure is just a matter of "want". Due to policy surrounding identification, without surgery, trans people are denied not only recognition, but documentation in their proper gender which results in huge barriers when accessing services, travel, and employment.

Gen
Actually, sex-change surgeries are funded because it is considered a mental health issue to be feeling like a man in a woman's body or vice-versa. Therefore it is not a personnal choice, an elective surgery for esthetic purposes, or a funky idea. To be approved for this kind of surgeries, one has to go trough a serious evaluation process and very little people are considered suitable for a surgery that has such effects. The money it costs us is very limited in the end and can be considered as mental health funding.

Dustin DeBris
Comparing gender dysphoria (aka Gender identity disorder) to cosmetic and weight reduction surgeries is sadly very misinformed. Transgendered individuals have one of the highest rates of any demographic in Canada, and struggle daily with acceptance. Rates of depression in these individuals is astronomical. Having gender identity disorder is not a personal choice. Would you say that depressed people choose depression, or that schizophrenics choose that, so they should have to pay for their own treatment? All mental illness patients deserve to be treated.

On the same hand, would you deny treatment to a large group of individuals if it was able to cure their depression at unbeleivably high rates? That is currently what the government is doing with this move.

I suggest doing more research into gender dysphoria before labeling it "cosmetic".

AJ
Why should Tax payers have to pay for these people's surgeries??? Their the ones making the decision...Let them pay for their own and levae my tax money out of it! Kudos to the Alberta Government for Delisting this!

Tim
This is 100% cosmetic surgery and is done by choice and not be necessity. While other quite necessary (ie. life-saving) medical procedures and services are not covered by the province, trans-genders feel they are entitled to free cosmetic surgery? Give me a break!

Tom Hanna
The television segment aired the complaintant's reasons for argument was that these surgical procedures are essential for life. At $70,000 a pop, how many lives could be saved even thru UI.

Joe Conservative
Good.

Hopefully we see more of this. During these economically rough times, I hope they go over the budget and root out ridiculous items like this.

Income taxes are too high, lets bring down gov spending for essentials, and work down the income tax to where it ought to be!

Rosa
Why are my tax dollars funding these surgeries?

I can't get a family Dr and these people are draining the system of money and resources away from my children???

Now that's a human rights complaint by me a mother!!!

LindaE
The province doesn't fund a lot of things. Eye exams, wart removal, wheelchairs and other health necessities for seniors and the disabled, to name a few. Gender reassignment surgery is certainly not something the majority of Albertans require, it's controversial and it's very expensive. In a publicly-funded system with finite resources, I support the government's decision to withhold funding on something that will benefit a small number of people in favour of allocating the resources to programs that will reach a much wider population.

Adam
I totally support anyone who has the courage to change their life or even body to whatever they want it to be. I am not a redneck or homophobe, but I do not think that the tax payers should be responsible for anyone to have a sex change. It is a presonal choice, and not a medical issue. I have spent over $10,000 in the last year for work done on my jaw that had popped out of place and was in a lot of pain. Alberta Health would not contribute anything because orthadontic work is considered "cosmetic". I may be wrong, but I think that a sex change should fall under the same category.

CK
Why should the province pay for this surgery?????? If this surgery needs to be done it should be paid by the person who needs it not the province.

Kathleen
Let's all have cosmetic surgery at the expense of the tax payer and cut back further on drugs to those seriously ill people who really need them! Come on, since when was a sex change a life saving necessity? Let's get our priorities right.

fedup
I would say they could pay for the surgery on their own, just like some cosmetic and weight reduction procedures. If the money is tight, the more essential services should be covered.

Don
I don't see this as a human rights issue. Lots of services are not covered in Alberta that are covered in other provinces.Some things that I would like are not covered. What provinces cover varies. However, the federal gov't covers all costs for the surgery and treatments if one is a federal prisoner.