sandra-leigh
10-04-2011, 11:10 PM
This posting does mention partisan politics, but in a trans-specific context.
The provincial elections in Manitoba, Canada (where I live) were today. The governing NDP (New Democratic Party) ended up with essentially the same number of seats in their majority, whereas they had been earlier predicted to lose to a majority PC (Progressive Conservatives).
This continuation of the status-quot is of interest to Manitoba TG/TS because the NDP Health Minister has been personally instrumental in quietly increasing funding and programs for TG and TS people. For example, they gave the go-ahead and funding to the Trans Health Unit at the clinic I go to. (Medicine is controlled by the provinces in Canada, and private medical practices are largely banned, except for unfunded areas such as elective cosmetic surgery.) I have not spoken at any point with the Health Minister, but I did attend an information session on this topic in which the minister's personal aide discussed this.
The current provincial position is that matters such as HRT are medical necessities for a portion of the population, but with the current Canadian medical system, that determination can be reversed by a simple change of regulation; if that were to occur, it would leave Manitoba TG/TS in medical legal limbo, with no way to receive HRT coded as such (it would have to be hidden under terms such as "endocrine disorder".) Such a change wouldn't make HRT "illegal", but it would be the equivalent of the US practice of "defunding legislation", making it perpetually "out of stock".
Does this mean that I am a member of a Special Interest Group? :heehee:
The provincial elections in Manitoba, Canada (where I live) were today. The governing NDP (New Democratic Party) ended up with essentially the same number of seats in their majority, whereas they had been earlier predicted to lose to a majority PC (Progressive Conservatives).
This continuation of the status-quot is of interest to Manitoba TG/TS because the NDP Health Minister has been personally instrumental in quietly increasing funding and programs for TG and TS people. For example, they gave the go-ahead and funding to the Trans Health Unit at the clinic I go to. (Medicine is controlled by the provinces in Canada, and private medical practices are largely banned, except for unfunded areas such as elective cosmetic surgery.) I have not spoken at any point with the Health Minister, but I did attend an information session on this topic in which the minister's personal aide discussed this.
The current provincial position is that matters such as HRT are medical necessities for a portion of the population, but with the current Canadian medical system, that determination can be reversed by a simple change of regulation; if that were to occur, it would leave Manitoba TG/TS in medical legal limbo, with no way to receive HRT coded as such (it would have to be hidden under terms such as "endocrine disorder".) Such a change wouldn't make HRT "illegal", but it would be the equivalent of the US practice of "defunding legislation", making it perpetually "out of stock".
Does this mean that I am a member of a Special Interest Group? :heehee: