margiesblog: 2016

Who is the transgender child and what should parents know?

">Who is the transgender child and what should parents know? A 3-year-old boy said to his mother, quoted in Parents Magazine, “I’m a girl. Don’t you know I’m a girl? I’m a girl inside. My blood is pink.” He also wanted to know why he was a girl inside but not outside. On another occasion, he said he hoped he would be struck by lightning. In the formative years before school, children pick up from their parents what is expected from them in their gender roles. Boys shouldn’t play with dolls, and girls shouldn’t be too tomboyish. Boys should engage in rough and tumble, and girls should look feminine, wearing pretty dresses and ribbons and bows. These children soon see that there is much about themselves that they have to hide. If they are religious, they may feel that God will punish them. Eventually, they may slip into depression, anxiety, and become isolated and secretive. There are two paths the young transgender child takes. They hide their preference and continue to pass as their birth sex. Or, they may feel so strongly about their preference that they can’t hide it. If they reveal it, huge problems may emerge. Society can be devastating to their emotional development. They may be rejected by family members and playmates. School time may be fraught with bullying, discrimination, harassment, and lack of support from teachers and administrators. Even the child who wants to hide his feelings can be stunted in his or her emotional development. Being transgender is not a “phase.” Yes, there are boys who play with dolls for a while or girls who love “roughhousing,” but they never think of themselves as the other sex and return to behavior that is normal for their sex. Transgender people have been known in many cultures since antiquity. A transgender person is different than a transsexual person. The latter wants to change physically to the other sex by surgery, hormones or other methods. The transgender may not. They are also not to be confused with gays, lesbians, or bisexuals. The mental health of these children depends largely upon the support of their parents. Early intervention is crucial. Parental acceptance and support have been shown to lower the suicide risk. Parents must listen when their child tries to communicate his or her uncertainties and fears. Parental acceptance can result in problems of its own. Parents confiding in others can bring disapproval and rejection by family and acquaintances. It has been reported that parents of transgender children have actually been threatened with harm or death. The controversy over which bathroom the transgender child should use has brought out misguided judgment against the children and their parents. Puberty is a particularly difficult time. The usual bodily changes are upsetting to transgender children. A child born as female but identifying as male may be disgusted with breast development, and a boy by birth but a girl inside may be horrified with all the hair growth. These children can’t function well in school or in family life without support. If they go through the “wrong” puberty it can lead to severe problems, including substance abuse, suicidal ideation, cutting and other forms of self-abuse, continuing high levels of stress and anxiety, and eventual poverty. They remain targets of bullies and harassment. There are medical treatments available to delay puberty. However, the parent must be supportive from an early age and must be on top of the latest advances in this area. With medications and other treatments, they can delay the angst of puberty and function better in school and at home. Parents should seek counseling for their child, if necessary, and perhaps even for themselves. Religious parents should concentrate on the basic teachings of their faith, which undoubtedly include love, non-judgment, and acceptance. “The answer is to love your kids as is. Your love and acceptance is the best medicine your kids will ever get,” says Dr. Michelle Forcier, Rhode Island. Approximately 50 percent of transgender children and youth have considered suicide by the time they are 20 years old, according to the Youth Suicide Prevention Program, and approximately 25 percent have attempted it. And 41 percent of transgenders of all ages have attempted it at some point in life, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Williams Institute. This compares with 4.6 percent of the general public.

Universal health care is a right not a privilege

It is estimated that between 2005 and 2010, 12,000 Americans died because they did not have health insurance. Other estimates are between 20,000 and 45,000 annually, and some say three deaths per hour. And this in the richest country in the world.

The uninsured are 40% more likely to die, according to a Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance 2009 study. Why?

· The uninsured are seen by health care providers about half as often as the insured

· Uninsured women will skip preventive mammograms and pap smears.

Diabetics may cut down or skip necessary medications

· The uninsured are more likely to be seen when their preventable illnesses have reached a very advanced stage.

· Health insurance costs are way out-of-reach for their income level.

· Many have a choice between paying for medications and eating.

Unfortunately, politics is huge part of the problem in the US. When Obamacare became law, states had the option of expanding their Medicaid coverage to more of the poor and nearly-poor. However, 22 of the states, all run by Republicans, refused to do so. This led to several million people remaining without coverage. Hundreds of thousands will suffer needlessly and some will die.

An experiment by Oregon Health Insurance showed that low-income uninsured people will face a greater likelihood of depression, catastrophic medical costs and death. They pay more for care because they have to pay the going rate. The uninsured in these states face loss of financial well-being, access to care, longevity, and mental and physical well-being.

This doesn’t happen in the other industrialized countries. Why? Because they all have universal health coverage. Not only that, they spend much less on healthcare than we do, and the results are far better. Some examples:

The US life expectancy at birth is 43^rd in the world, according to Central Intelligence Agency 2015 statistics.

The maternal mortality rate is ranked 45^th in the world (CIA, 2015).

The infant mortality rate is 167^th out of 224(CIA, 2015). Cuba and Bosnia have a better rating than the US.

The death rate is ranked 93^rd out of 225 or 8.15 deaths per 1,000.

The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks the US health system 37^th in the world. This, despite the fact that the US spends the most money on health care in the world. In fact, we are almost double the second highest spender (UK). US spending per person averages out to $9086, while the second place Switzerland citizen pays $6325.

The cost being so high is partially attributable to use of high tech equipment such as MRIs. Another reason given is the fact that the prices for health care are set, and there is no collective buying power. In the UK, for example, the government buys the services, and bargains with health providers for the best quality for the lowest prices. This creates competition. The US now has the highest prices for drugs and medical devices anywhere in the world, and other costs are as high as the provider chooses. And it’s all still going up.

Thanks to Obamacare, the uninsured rate dropped to 9.1% of people under 65, the lowest rate in 50 years. That is still almost one tenth of the population and there is no moral reason justifying this situation. Many politicians in the US love to be seen as devout church-goers, yet for politics they ignore the teaching of their religion: caring for the less fortunate. The United States has no excuse for not joining the rest of the world in concern for their citizens.