American trans people have had to suffer lack of coverage of our medically necessary care for more than 30 years because of this (p. 18; reference removed)?
Quote:
Notwithstanding its discussion of these studies, the 1981 report (and the NCD) cited an alleged ?lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism? as a ground for finding the procedures ?experimental.? The 1981 report did not define ?long term? for the purpose of assigning weight to study results and the NCD record provided no clarification of that phrase. The 1981 report noted ?post-operative followup? and ?followup? times for eight of the nine studies on the outcomes of surgery, with ?average,? ?mean? or ?median? periods ranging from 25 months to over eight years, and individual periods from three months to 13 years. NCD Record at 15-17. If these studies do not qualify as acceptable long-term studies, the basis for such a conclusion is not adequately explained in the NCD record.
http://www.hhs.gov/dab/decisions/dabdec ... ab2576.pdf
I'm glad the DAB took this seriously.
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"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin
12 Jul 2014, 2:59 pm
