ACA - Does it help us?

[daifu-orchid (imported)]

There are lots of medical issues aired on EA which need help, be they more spiritual or physical.

Professional care doesn't come cheap, particularly in US, and many on EA are concerned that appropriate care is not affordable.

How does the Affordable Care Act help us, and does it really allow access to good help for the less wealthy with EA kind of issues?

We often see advice against cutters and such. Is the ACA what we need?

[Paolo]

Keep this thread ON TOPIC, please.

Any responses that are not related to the posted subject will be removed.

[devi (imported)]

There are certain special medical issues peculiar to "hypogonadic" individuals. Much of the modern medical establishment seems to believe that these individuals can be made "normal" by administering testosterone despite much evidence to the contrary. As far as the ACA is concerned, this would probably follow suit in this manner for the short range. (I myself probably won't be getting a health care plan for 2014 at the rate I'm going since I have impending paperwork income issues -a personal glitch but I've been without for decades anyway so no big deal.)

[HappyEunuch (imported)]

I have to agree with devi. Testosterone is the only thing given and it is not the only thing missing. Your testicles produce multiple hormones and etc. Doctors seem to think that fixes everything when it is no different than making pancakes with only syrup. Doesn't taste the same without the rest of the ingredients ya know. There needs to be more research on the subject and it will take all the people who lost them to testicular cancer and other medical related issues because anyone else will not be taken seriously and be out casted as being mentally ill when that is not the case. Save the Ta-Ta's ring a bell? Well we need to save the Ba-Ball's to get people open enough to discuss it so we can get more research. It is not balls that make a man so until that is dealt with everyone will just hide and pretend everything is fine and we will not progress in science and medicine and reactions and etc.

ACA covers hardly anything from what I have seen.

[Wolf-Pup (imported)]

ACA isn't a healthcare plan itself. Its a law the regulates the insurance industry and tries to keep a lid on growing healthcare costs in the future. You buy your insurance from comanies that sell it in your region. Depending on where you live there may be more or less insurance companies competing for your cash.

I think all plans cover basic things like checkups and immunizations. Then the price goes up the better the coverage...bronze silver or gold are the plan levels I think.

I doubt it will change anything for people who want to lose their testicles. Maybe in conjunction with gender dysphoria treatment it could be covered, don't know.

[plix (imported)]

Since I didn't have health insurance before and now have it thanks to ACA, I would say that it has helped me.

I think how helpful it will be to eunuchs depends on whether you are talking about eunuchs who are taking hormones or eunuchs who are not. Those who are taking hormones should find it pretty helpful since insurance companies will usually cover hormones for people who don't make any of their own. Of course I have always wondered how the insurance companies would treat it if they ever found out you are a eunuch for voluntary reasons. A couple people have said that there is more to eunuch care than just giving hormones, but I'm not convinced that anything else would be too big of a deal if you were taking HRT. Hypgonadal men who are taking T don't seem to have the health problems that come with not taking it. I guess you could say things like libido isn't as good on exogenous T or that you don't get hard as easily, but there really isn't anything else that can treat that sort of thing except for maybe ED meds, which insurance companies don't cover anyway, ACA or no ACA. I don't know - I would have to know more about what they mean by there being other issues that just taking T can't fix.

It seems to be a lot trickier for eunuchs who don't want to take HRT. I know that when I was on Medicaid, I tried to get a bone scan not too long after my castration so that I would have something to compare any future bone problems to, but I was denied because I was not a postmenopausal woman. It seemed to me that the insurance company was saying that only postmenopausal women can have osteoporosis. Men, including eunuchs, would not be allowed to have their bones checked out. I guess if you broke a hip that would probably be covered, so if you actually developed osteo and needed treatment for it ACA should be helpful, but for things like prevention maybe not so much. Insurance companies get to decide what is covered and who it will be covered for, and with the exception of a few changes to things like requiring mental health coverage and that sort of thing, I don't think ACA has really changed much there (but I'm not really all that educated on it, so I could be wrong!).

ACA will probably allow eunuchs who couldn't otherwise afford it to have greater access to general healthcare, but whether it will help them specifically with eunuch health issues would depend on things like the coverage limitations of their specific plans and quality of their doctors, and unfortunately the doctors who accept ACA plans, especially the plans meant for lower-income people, probably aren't going to be among the top doctors available.

If you are thinking more along the lines of people who want to be castrated for no medical reason, I don't see it helping them much, at least not with the way the medical community currently looks at voluntary castration. Unfortunately even if this sort of thing is not considered a sign of mental illness, it is considered cosmetic or otherwise not medically necessary, at least by the insurance companies. I know that my new plan specifically excludes any coverage for anything not medically necessary as well as anything related to "transformation of sex." I'm sure that voluntary castration would fall under one or the other.

[devi (imported)]

One good thing about the ACA this year is the pre-existing condition clause. In the past at certain times when I would be making a reasonably well amount of money and figured I could afford it, I had tried to get health insurance but they would raise my rates practically even tripling them after doing a background check on me. Apparently there was something in my childhood that had never been directly disclosed to me. Not being able afford this health insurance I would have to back down. Ironically I am in the best shape of anyone. Only two different instances in my life have I ever ended up taking testosterone. Despite all the claims of the major pharmaceutical industries taking testosterone is NOT on the whole good for you. There are several other hormones that would be just a effective as far as osteopenia is concerned, estrogen being the cheapest, but for breath gowth in some is not completely advisable. Androstenadione I believe is another one. Testosterone does in fact shorten one's life span despite claims to the contrary and I would even surmise that so does viagra (which is not a hormone).

[Dave (imported)]

There's a lot of prevention-type and wellness care written into the law. I think it's going to take a year or so to figure out exactly what that means and does.

[daifu-orchid (imported)]

Ha! I started this thread to see if there was interest....

Some fine comments so far, IMHO, but the last thought seems to be that it's going to take a while to see how it helps best.

My neighbor points to the "pre-existing condition" as why he has insurance now, but not before.

It seems to me that being a eunuch over the years should surely qualify, but what about those who have been troubled by the idea for just as long? Maybe some could do with expertly compassionate counsel, and then there's all the less than wise things that folks do to themselves.

Plenty to cover, but how does the ACA help, and any thoughts as to how it should?