fuckyeahftms:

I am an Ontario trans man who had top surgery under publicly funded OHIP in 2013. The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) has paid for this type of surgery since the reinstatement of sex reassignment surgeries in 2008. The options for choice of surgeon are as follows: One may go to Dr. Belanger in Montreal fully funded, or go to another surgeon partially funded. The reason for partial funding is that OHIP only pays for the ‘mastectomy’ part of the surgery, and the patient must pay for ‘chest contouring’ fraction. Another restriction is that the surgeon must be willing to accept OHIP reimbursement.

Dr. Hugh McLean in Mississauga is a private top surgeon who is not willing to work with OHIP. He has practised since pre-2008 and is quite a popular choice for Ontario trans men. A good many trans men go to Dr. McLean out-of-pocket rather than undertake the 1+ year process to obtain OHIP funding.

I have come across the following article on Dr. McLean’s blog: “Does OHIP Cover FTM Surgery?” http://www.ftmtopsurgery.ca/blog/medical-coverage/ohip-cover-ftm-surgery/

The opening line is completely inaccurate: “Unfortunately OHIP does not cover female-to-male sex reassignment surgery for Ontarians.”

Later, on the 2008 SRS reinstatement bulletin from the Ministry, the article states:

“The bulletin also seems to suggest that only mastectomy would be covered, but it’s vague about specific details. Generally speaking, the government of Ontario will not cover gender reassignment surgery procedures.”

This is at best misleading and at worst fully incorrect. The MOHLTC bulletin (http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/ohip/bulletins/4000/bul4480.pdf) explicitly stated that mastectomy is covered. I have recent documentation (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/67321046/OHIP%202013%20List.pdf) from the MOHLTC that confirms this, and the CAMH website (http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/care_program_and_services/specialty_clinics/Pages/Criteria-and-information-for-those-seeking-surgery.aspx) details the process by which funding can be obtained. The article on Dr. McLean’s website was posted in 2014, far too late to excuse ignorance of this policy.

This article is the #1 Google search result for “ohip top surgery”, “ontario cover ftm surgery”, and other similar queries. My concern is that trans men will be misled into paying for top surgery out-of-pocket without the knowledge that OHIP funding is possible. I have personally known numerous trans men who believed that out-of-pocket was their only option. It is plain to see what Dr. McLean stands to gain from the spread of this misconception.

[The last line of the article reads, “At this time, the only feasible route to having top surgery in a timely manner is to self-finance the surgery without compensation from OHIP.” I do not dispute that the process to obtain OHIP funding is currently lengthy; however, the other claims within the article are alarmingly inaccurate.]

If you wish to spread public awareness about Ontario health benefits for trans people, you are welcome to circulate this posting as well as contact Dr. Hugh McLean (http://www.mcleanclinic.com/contact-us/) regarding the article on his website.

-Sam (/u/mightybite on reddit and a-mosaic on tumblr)

tldr: Surgeon’s website claims that top surgery is not paid for by the government, when in fact it is. This particular surgeon only accepts patients paying out-of-pocket.