www.simoncollier.ca

The Alberta Health Services Board announced service cuts on 15th April, about three weeks after it gave all of its members a 25% pay increase. The board members now each get paid $50,000 for their part-time positions, plus $750 “meeting compensation” for every one of the approximately 4 meetings per month. (My job requires that I attend meetings, I don’t get extra for doing so. I had no idea this was unfair, I will contact my union.)

This month our financially incapable provincial government decided that cutting services from our public health care system is the most appropriate course of action to balance the books, medical necessities be damned. In the first round of cuts is Gender Reassignment Surgery, which is something I don’t care about one way or the other in that it doesn’t directly affect me. That feeling of apathy was motivation enough to do some reading.

The government quotes $700,000 as being the annual cost of providing Gender Reassignment Surgery, which is about 0.0005% of the $12,935 million healthcare budget. (Or 0.028% of the $25,000,000 ad campaign to rebrand Alberta as a clean and progressive land where people can follow their dreams. Well, white people anyway.) It is therefore reasonable to say the cost of this service is not a significant factor.

Gender Reassignment Surgery is a treatment for Gender Identity Disorder, which is a recognised disorder. How would we react if we removed support for PTSD or depression? GRS is also a treatment for intersex births, which occur to varying degrees in 1.7% of children. Most are “corrected” shortly after birth, though in severe cases it is more difficult. Assuming we accept the opinion of the organisations that guide the imparting of medical knowledge to our doctors, we can agree that these conditions are real and that treatment is therefore medically necessary.

Consider that the public healthcare system provides treatment for careless drivers and people playing sports, both activities which are very much a personal choice and represent a massive cost to the healthcare system. What about those injured at work? More than a quarter of employed adults sustain their most serious injuries at work in a given year. It seems to me that my taxes subsidise an awful lot of people’s preventable injuries – even those caused in the pursuit of profit, so I don’t see why a recognised disorder should be excluded.

Where does Alberta stand legally with this announcement? In 2008 the decade-long court battle against the Ontario government ended with the Ontario Human Rights Commission reinstating Gender Reassignment Surgery. I can only imagine what that court case cost the Ontario tax payers. Of course a similar court case is possible in Alberta, though Health Minister Ron Liepert cleverly grandfathered in those who already started hormone therapy, as that is what prompted the case in Ontario. In June 2008, the American Medical Association House of Delegates declared the support of Gender Reassignment Surgery in public and private insurance policies. Additionally, as far as I am aware, Alberta still recognises Gender Identity Disorder and intersex births as disorders/conditions – we just won’t fund its treatment.

It’s easy to dismiss GRS as unimportant if it’s a service you have never used, but that’s an awful yardstick with which to measure the importance of a public service. My thoughts? Healthcare is important, as is the well-being of my neighbours. Let’s find another way to balance the books. If we start cutting public services when we hit a recession, what is the government even useful for? It’s supposed to be our rock in uncertain times.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me–
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemoeller

References

http://albertatalks.ca/2009/03/26/despite-deficit-albertas-health-superboard-gives-itself-25-pay-increase/

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2006007/article/injuries-blessures/4149017-eng.htm

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/04/15/edm-delisting-alberta.html

http://budget2009.alberta.ca/newsroom/charts-graphs.pdf#page=2

http://www.am1410.ca/news/14/911356

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/15/digest_of_actions.pdf