Liepert expands sex-change coverage eligibility

Calgary Herald - AB, Canada
Liepert expands sex-change coverage eligibility
By Trish Audette, edmontonjournal.com

April 14, 2009



EDMONTON € ’· Health Minister Ron Liepert said Tuesday nearly twice as
many people will be eligible for government-funded gender reassignment
surgeries before the province stops paying for the service to save
money.

Last week, when the government announced cutting the program would
save roughly $700,000 a year, Liepert said the 26 people already on
the list to get the surgery would still be funded. On Tuesday, he
added roughly 20 people who have already begun paying for their own
hormonal medication in preparation for gender reassignment.

€ ’³It would not be right for us to now say, € ’±Well, you€ ’²ve spent all this
money, we€ ’²re now going to change the rules,€ ’² € ’´ Liepert said. € ’³It seems
to me to be unfair to have someone believe that a certain surgery was
going to take place, dug into their pockets for hormonal drugs that
were prescribed by the medical community, and somehow we don€ ’²t follow
through on it.€ ’´

The minister said he made the decision to expand the list of people
being funded based on media reports over the weekend that highlighted
the concerns of people on waiting lists who cannot afford procedures
that run as high as $80,000. With about three dozen people who support
the transgendered community or are waiting for gender reassignment
surgeries watching from the gallery, Liepert side-stepped questions of
human rights during Tuesday afternoon€ ’²s question period at the
legislature.

Last May, a 10-year battle to reinstate public funding for gender
reassignment surgeries came to a close in Ontario, when that
province€ ’²s human rights commission found the decision to cut the
program discriminatory. Liepert and Premier Ed Stelmach emphasized
cutting funding for sex change surgeries comes down to a line-by-line
analysis of the budget.

€ ’³We€ ’²re just saying the taxpayers will be no longer funding this
particular surgery,€ ’´ Stelmach said. € ’³If you€ ’²re speculating on the fact
that some people may challenge the government decision under (the)
Alberta Human Rights Commission, then we€ ’²ll see what happens.€ ’´

Members of the transgendered community are expected to file human
rights complaints in Calgary and Edmonton today. Edmonton-Centre
Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman said the province has set itself up for
the kind of long-haul legal wrangling Ontario experienced.

€ ’³It was a very long battle and a very, very expensive battle, and one
that I would hope this government would be smart enough not to get
involved in,€ ’´ she said. € ’³And they just walked right into it.€ ’´

Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notley suggested the government
€ ’³back up, calm down, (and) do the right thing.€ ’´

€ ’³This is a black eye for this government if they actively try to stop
these folks from getting the services they need.€ ’´

The Journal learned Monday Alberta€ ’²s handling of the issue has even
drawn the attention of daytime talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
Jamie-Lynn Garvin, a 47-year-old who has been living as a woman for
the last two years while waiting for her gender reassignment
operation, has become the face of the debate in the last week. She
told her story to media outlets and spoke to her MLA, St. Albert
Conservative Ken Allred, who now has questions about the plan to
delist funding. On Tuesday, Allred asked Liepert whether he was aware
the surgeries are funded by other provinces.

€ ’³We could get into a long debate about what is funded in other
provinces and what is funded in Alberta,€ ’´ Liepert answered.

Garvin said the news Liepert would be expanding funding to those still
on the waiting list was € ’³fantastic€ ’´ € ’· if it pans out.

€ ’³I€ ’²m not 18 years old. I€ ’²ve been around the block more than once, and
I€ ’²ve heard a lot of things come out of politicians€ ’² mouths,€ ’´ she said.
€ ’³It€ ’²s a $40,000 announcement for me, if it€ ’²s true. (But) there€ ’²s a lot
of things that can happen between what he just said and when it comes
down to what Alberta Health finally tell us.€ ’´

taudette@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Cutting+change+coverage+necessary+says+Alberta+health+minister/1495792/story.html

Cutting sex-change coverage necessary, says Alberta health minister

Edmonton Journal, Canada
Cutting sex-change coverage necessary, says Alberta health minister
By Trish Audette, edmontonjournal.com
April 14, 2009 3:04 PM

EDMONTON — Health Minister Ron Liepert wondered Tuesday whether
Alberta needs an expert panel to determine what is medically necessary
as his government continues to make "tough decisions" about what
should be covered by the province.

During Tuesday's question period, about three dozen people who support
the province's transgendered community — or who themselves are waiting
for gender reassignment surgery— sat in the legislature's public
gallery and listened to Liepert explain that the medical procedure is
not the only service being cut.

He confirmed the 26 Albertans currently in line to undergo gender
reassignment will have their surgeries covered by the province, and 20
more people on the verge of being approved will also be covered.

Beyond that, however, Liepert stuck to the province's plan to cut
$700,000 from health care spending by ending the coverage of gender
reassignment surgeries.

"Unless we get a handle on expenditures, we won't have a publicly
funded health care system," he said.

The transgendered community was blindsided by the province's decision
to cut the program last week. For individuals, the costs of gender
reassignment surgery can amount to as much as $80,000.

Liepert has said the decision was not political, but a matter of a
line-by-line analysis of spending.

The other major cut to public health care spending was $53 million,
saved by cutting funding to chiropractic services.

"Our interest, of course, is to be here as peaceful witnesses to this
issue," said Jan Lukas Buterman, who was among the people who met on
the legislature's front steps before question period.

On Wednesday, members of the transgendered community are expected to
file human rights complaints in Calgary and Edmonton.

taudette@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Health/Cutting+change+coverage+necessary+Liepert/1495792/story.html