But the post that you're replying to, in general, holds up. "Gender reassignment surgery is typically only available to those 18 and older in the United States." https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/05/viral-imag...
I was editing my comment with that exact link when you posted.
Double mastectomy is practiced, at least:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abst...
It seems like an oddly small number to obsess over, especially considering over 8,000 non-trans teenagers between 13 and 19 receive breast augmentations each year.
From your link:
| the mean (SD) age was 19 (2.5) years for postsurgical participants and 17 (2.5) years for nonsurgical participants
Surgical patients would be the ones who are in the most danger of suicide or self-harm or for whom nonsurgical (hormone) treatment is not an option.
Also,
| Self-reported regret was near 0.
Here is the document that the report refers to as the standard for care for transgender patients:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/amo_hub_content/Association140/file...
You'll want to look at Section VI: . Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Gender Dysphoria.
Are we talking about a top operation, or a bottom one? Do mastectomies count as gender reassignment, or only if genitals are involved?
Because if you include top surgery, then https://wng.org/roundups/state-mandates-payment-for-children... says that where I live in California it is legal, and insurance must pay for it.
You're going to have to come up with a better source.
But it links to http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0250-insurers/0300-insurers/0200... which is the actual decision posted on an official California government website. It confirms what I said.
What do you think that specific clinical situation was in those situations?
Sometimes people lie on the internet.
And quite often, when they lie, they do so by omission or by inaccurately summarizing facts.
In any case, the two points in this thread are in agreement. Top surgery is "typically only available to those 18 or older," as 'john-radio wrote. In atypical cases, it is available to those under 18, and it requires a doctor to a) decide that it's necessary and b) consciously go against WPATH recommendations when doing so. The legal opinion here is that an insurer may not come up with a rule that says that doctors may never decide that it's the right thing to do for a particular patient, because that's a decision a doctor is allowed to make.
My child is smart enough to look for a doctor that is known to have evaluated cases on a "case by case basis" to provide the surgery that they want. As for how to find said doctor, if anyone in their online social network finds one, that information will be shared. In fact I would happily take an even money bet that my child would have no problem laying their hands on the name of such a doctor within 24 hours.