Should there be health insurance coverage for female genital mutilation reversal surgeries?

YES.

Then it should also be covered for male genital Mutilation (Circumcision) reversal Surgeries.

Sounds great!

@ragingloli agreed

Insurance should cover it. It is the result of physical trauma.
However in reality I know they would pull the “pre existing condition” crap though.
(insert negative description of health insurance companies as compared to the fecies of a fetid rhino)

@Dog ‘fecies of a fetid rhino’ – nice..what’s fetid?

Absolutely. The women who had to endure that hell should have a chance at a normal sex life…and urination.

fetid: Smelling extremely unpleasant.

Not just sex and urination but difficulty walking, hideous childbirths and the very large chance of developing an anal fistula.

@gailcalled thank you

Removed by me. Cuz… I dunno.

Without thinking about it for more than a few seconds my answer is probably not. If someone is tortured, yet the wounds have healed, is any surgical procedure performed nothing more than plastic surgery? Not to say the practice of FGM isn’t horrible and completely fucked up and wrong (cultural practices can fuck off, thank you), but wouldn’t it be setting a dangerous precedent? Would everyone that has ever been tortured be entitled to the same coverage? Honestly as a man I don’t feel I have the right to an opinion on something that is only experienced by females. I really don’t know what to think on this.

@FutureMemory: Honestly as a man I don’t feel I have the right to an opinion on something that is only experienced by females. I really don’t know what to think on this.

You’re right. This requires more than several seconds thought.

@FutureMemory well, to me, of course you have the right to an opinion…but that’s my opinion…however, if you read the article, you see that a lot of these women experience much more than cosmetic after effects

@FutureMemory: Or simply read my terse but accurate summary above.

If my weenie was cut off by my parents’ wacky religion I’d certainly want it ‘fixed’ but not sure I’d feel it was my right. Also I wasn’t aware it caused other physical problems as mentioned by Facade and gailcalled. I obviously didn’t read the article linked above. i.e. I’m speaking from a less than informed point of view, poor move on my part

@ragingloli: Actually, female genital mutilation is very different from circumcision. Female circumcision is removal of the clitoral hood. FGM is removal of the hood, clitoris and usually a big chunk of labia as well. I believe it would be the equivalent of cutting off the head of a man’s penis.

As to the question, yes, I believe health insurance should cover the reversal. Since it does cause many problems to the woman that are far beyond the cosmetic, it is definitely not simple plastic surgery. However, if it didn’t cause problems, I wouldn’t think it should be covered.

@gailcalled Thanks for describing fetid for me.

I apologize if my above remark was offensive to anyone. This issue is so horrific I am a bit over sensitive.

@KatawaGrey Everything I have read says that anything done to a woman’s vulva (clitoral damage, sewing it up, cutting off labia, etc.) is considered FGM. There are different categories.

@ragingloli I haven’t suffered any ill effects from being circumcised. You can’t compare the two, they are completely different. Completely.

@Facade: You are right, but I think people tend to think off the slicing off of the whole area. My point was more how male circumcision doesn’t really compare. Also, there have been cases of women who have been “circumcised” meaning the clitoral hood has been removed and they have no ill effects. In fact, I’ve heard that they have better sex.

@KatawaGrey I still hate all of it. It’s wrong.

Here’s a grim overview from The World Health Organization.

Female genital mutilation is classified into four major types:

Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) and, rarely, the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris) as well.

Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (the labia are “the lips” that surround the vagina).

Infibulation: narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner, and sometimes outer, labia, with or without removal of the clitoris.

Other: all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.
Read more about types of procedures

Health consequences

FGM has no health benefits, and it harms girls and women in many ways. It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue, and interferes with the natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies.

Immediate complications can include severe pain, shock, haemorrhage (bleeding), tetanus or sepsis (bacterial infection), urine retention, open sores in the genital region and injury to nearby genital tissue.

Long-term consequences can include:

recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections;
cysts;
infertility;
the need for later surgeries. For example, the FGM procedure that seals or narrows a vaginal opening (type 3 above) is surgically changed to allow for sexual intercourse and childbirth, and sometimes stitched close again afterwards;
an increased risk of childbirth complications and newborn deaths.

I don’t understand why it isn’t covered? She has physical pain and needs the area repaired. This is not comparable to a male circumcision where there is no ongoing pain and they can still experience pleasure. I am not looking for a discussion on whether male circumcision is right or not, I am talking about continued physical pain. If a male circumcision was screwed up, which happened to the son of a girlfriend of mine, I would assume her insurance paid for the “repair” he needed to correct the situation.

@Facade: I agree. My time on fluther has convinced me that I am not going to circumcise my sons even if it is still the normal thing to do when I have children.

Women are already covered
by law for boob jobs after mastectomies, so I don’t see how this is any different other than getting through the bureaucracy.

@kevbo: Lurve for an excellent point.

@kevbo actually very few insurance companies cover breast implants after mastectomies…or we wouldn’t have a local office of the American Cancer Society full of boxes and boxes of free bras and breast forms to distribute to all the women whose coverage doesn’t extend to this procedure

whoa
and here’s the flipside
http://www.viceland.com/int/v15n10/htdocs/woman-documentary-vaginoplasty-144.php

Here’s the thing…health Insurance covers whatever they want, it’s a business. I think we want to believe there is some sort of moral motivation, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Since this is so rare in America there is no need for them to cover it, because there is no competition covering it. The system sucks.

@JLeslie You can work the system if you lie a little. Don’t ask how I know lol

I absolutely believe that it should be covered by insurance and don’t see why it wouldn’t be. It is not simply cosmetic.

@FutureMemory Would everyone that has ever been tortured be entitled to the same coverage? Sure, why not?

@kevbo Good point. I believe more insurance companies should accept that policy.

@JLeslie: Amen. My poor mother can’t get health insurance because she has had a buttload of medical problems in the past.

OF COURSE

I don’t know that enough cases of female genital mutilation reversals are being done in the US by American doctors for insurance to specifically stipulate that it must be covered as female genital mutilation reversals.

I believe that an intelligent insurance clerk in the doctor’s office would be able to find an insurance code to cover the specific procedure needed. Rather than calling it a reversal of female genital mutilation, they would probably code it for what is actually being rectified. If the mutilation resulted in cysts, then the doctor would code for a cystectomy. If it resulted in a closed vaginal opening, or an increased risk during pregnancy, or an anal fistula, then the doctor would code for something else.

Sometimes a really bright clerk can overcome limitations set by insurance companies. Just so, a clerk who doesn’t care or isn’t smart can cause you to have to appeal insurance company decisions.

Maybe it’s by state. Nope, it’s federal law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_Health_and_Cancer_Rights_Act , but only for plans that cover mastectomies in the first place.

Health insurers have to cover whatever their state’s DOI mandates in order to operate in that state.

Why wouldn’t it already? I mean we’re not entirely too worried about the avalanche of false vaginal mutilation claims correct?

Thanks for pointing out that remarkable article. I had no idea corrective surgery was possible. I would go further and suggest that it be offered pro-bono, as a humanitarian gesture.

It should be covered but realistically it won’t.
If domestic abuse can be cited as a pre-existing condition, FGM certainly could.

Definitely. Plus free counseling sessions.

@pdworkin
@mattbrowne

I’ll vote for that

Your insurance company covers you if you are a victim of assault, why shouldn’t it cover you if you were assaulted by your family. I also think that they should be permitted to recover costs from the offending family and mutilators even if the crime was committed in another country.

Yes and male genital mutilation reversal as well (assuming it were possible) I can’t believe that there is a piece of my body that I have never even seen.