SRS Coverage

[Kathryn Martin]

At 1:20pm today the Health Minister of Nova Scotia announced that that effective immediately s. 4.8 of the Physicians Manual which excluded SRS as an insured service is repealed and that SRS is now covered within the Province of Nova Scotia.

This is a major announcement. Much work now has to be done to develop eligibility criteria and determine what surgeries will be covered. This is truly a step forward.

[LeaP]

Amazing. Hopefully it will ripple elsewhere.

[mikiSJ]

Damn you Canadians. I can't believe you put the health of your citizens above politics.

There is roughly 315,000,000 people in the U.S. and I am guessing less than 2,000 SRS procedures per year. At an estimated total cost of around 75,000 per individual, that is less than the yearly cost of maintaining one elderly person who destroyed their kidneys with alcohol or drugs and needs to be on a dialysis machine - and there are lot more folks on dialysis than wanting to modify their parts.

[Kathryn Martin]

prevalence rate in the province of 1 Mio population 28 at any given time. Anticipated annual surgeries for 2 years about 8 per year then dropping off to about 2 per year. Total cost over ten years about 640,000.00. Costs saved for otherwise insured treatment of those that are denied coverage in the millions, it's really a milk maid calculation when you think about it.

[jillleanne]

You can bet the other provinces are paying attention to this. Good.

[ReineD]

Wow, congratulations, Kathryn! Did you have anything to do with this? :)

What will happen when more people will want to transition than the budget allows? Who will be the gatekeepers and how will they determine who gets the surgery? ... I know you've just said that this needs to be formally defined, but do you have a personal opinion that will just stay in this forum?

[Angela Campbell]

How hard is it to emigrate to Canada? I kind of like Nova Scotia! Only been there once.

[mikiSJ]

Kathryn

Thank you for the better numbers. Some of the folks living in the country just to your south would rather pay the outlandish emergency room cost to treat a self-mutilation, than to pay for something that goes against their personal moral grain, in spite of the fact transexualism is gaining in acceptance from a growing part of a civilized and educated populace. We'll get their someday.

Also, thank you for making me look up what a milk maid's calculation is - thoughtful. (http://www.taleswithmorals.com/aesop-fable-the-milkmaid-and-her-pail.htm)

[Promethea]

Another reason to move to Canada!

Hopefully Quebec will have followed suit by the time I get there.

[Kathryn Martin]

Quebec has covered SRS since 1996, so no issues there.

[Promethea]

Why doesn´t that surprise me... :)

[Denise_Lafame]

We've had SRS covered in Alberta for quite some time with a small interlude of no coverage to buy some red neck votes.

Denise