Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cheaper Than Broken Collarbone
While perusing this article demanding the State cough up the dollars for sex reassignment surgery for transgender prisoners, I followed a link to The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery and learned everything I ever wanted to know about male-to-female sex reassignment, including some things I would rather “un-know” (I’ll spare you the details). But here’s what I found surprising: the cost. Only $19,750 for “bottom surgery.” Yep, for about the cost of a new Kia one can get a brand new hooha.
That’s a veritable bargain in my book. A year ago I had arthroscopic surgery on my shoulder that cost $12,000. A few months before that I almost killed myself on a dirt bike and ran up a $40,000 bill which involved installing a small plate on my clavicle and an overnight stay at the hospital. But a 5 1/2 hour surgery at this clinic requiring general anesthetic and all kinds of plastic surgery costs double a 30 minute scoping of my shoulder and half the cost of my overnight hospital stay for a busted collar bone.
Why?
My guess is that it’s a cash-based clinic. The FAQ page states that payment is due prior to the surgery, but the clinic will help the patient submit paperwork to insurance. The FAQ points out that most insurance companies pay what they deem fitting for each procedure, and that figure more often than not is much lower than the fee requested by the clinic. Still, if the clinic sets the price too high, then fewer people – at least those who are not in prison for murder – would be able to afford the surgery.
Oh, and not surprisingly the blogger at The Daily Beast, Samantha Allen, cherry-picked the data. “Bottom surgery” is only one procedure of twenty. A transgender prisoner would need the full suite including breast augmentation, facelift, liposuction and other procedures (think Caitlyn Jenner). The total cost of the transformation? $86,350. Not the $100,000 she criticizes Breitbart and the Los Angeles times for stating but a lot more than the $20k she offers.
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