well I worked at a job where a trans person was asking if laser hair removal (originally said electrolysis but see comment discussion below. sometimes my brain does wierd things) would be covered and I can only assume a woman wanting to be more womanly would want that to. Heck breast augmentation is kinda popular. I do feel stuff like that should not be limited.

Yes and no.

While a wide range of medical treatments could be called that with 100% real world accuracy and validity, that isn’t how the term “gender affirming care” is used by doctors on a regular basis at this point in time. That might change in the future, but you’re asking about now, and about asking a physician.

So, in the current world, that doctor is going to wonder what kind of fuckery you’re pulling, and likely find a way to avoid you in the future.

Gender affirming care has a narrow range of definitions medically currently. None of those definitions include treatments that are related to a person that has congruency with their assigned gender. Things like hormone supplementation for cis women or men just isn’t that. Gynecomastia treatments aren’t gender affirming care either.

Is it in the process of changing to where that is part of the medical usage of the term? Kinda, but it’s changing from the outside in, so I’m dubious it’ll be a dominant usage any time soon.

See, if you’re cis, all medical care is gender affirming to some degree. Some of that is stretching the concept to the breaking point, but the core of the term is about providing care that modifies the body from one’s assumed gender to that which matches the internal gender. In other words, if you aren’t trans or non binary, or some other flavor other than cis, the care isn’t transformative in the same way. It just isn’t. Hrt during menopause has a different goal and a different application than hrt for transition on a medical level.

No matter how we use the term colloquially, there is absolutely a difference between colloquial usage and in-jargon usage of any term. In this case, the colloquial usage is being shifted because it radically cruel and morally wrong to deny care to those in need of it for transition when the exact same meds and procedures are often covered by insurance for cis people. The difference between the application of modalities is irrelevant on a social level because no matter that the goal of the treatment is different, it is still a treatment that not only improves lives, it saves them.

But, again, that is not the same thing as current usages within medicine. It’ll take time and effort to change that.

Edit: the other part of your question is what would that care look like. The part about the doctor wondering what kind of fuckery you were pulling is the real answer.

That being said, if it wasn’t, and the terminology did change, then what you suggested is likely to be the first thing. Your hormone levels would be tested and, if not adequate for function, supplemented. Secondary to that, you would need to consult a cosmetic surgeon for any appearance related issues.

Look at any tough-guy gym… There’ll be testosterone offered to make you a “real man”.

Or breast implants for women who want bigger boobs. Those are both designed to help cis folks feel more like they’re the man/woman they think they need to be.

Which is why if gender affirming care is ever outlawed in my purple/red state, I’m going to be reporting the fuck out of the maga gym near by.

Sure, a lot of it is exactly the same. Hormone treatments for men with low-T, hair removal or replacement, plastic surgery, etc. We don’t trend to call it gender affirming care in cisgender people, but that’s exactly what it is.

Testosterone and estrogen supplements, dick pills, breast augmentation.

Thats just off the top of my head. Trans people are demonized for things cis people do every day

Most gender affirming care is for cis people, they just don’t want to admit it 😂

Yea. Most cosmetic procedures would count. I don’t see how a woman getting breast implants is one iota different than a trans woman getting top surgery.

Yes.

Gynomastia is a thing that causes some boys to endure a lot of bullying in school. Erectile dysfunction causes issues for older men. The treatment for both of those conditions is gender affirming treatment.

Loads of others, too.

But more to the point, it should not matter why a person needs gender affirming care. That should be a decision between a patient and their doctors, not me, not you, and not the government.

What about those little blue pills?

Yeah, Hair restoration. Testosterone therapy. I think you might have been joking but that’s what those are classified as

What about Truck Nutz?

Erectile dysfunction medication, prostate care, testosterone suppliments and male hormone medications and treatments, and plenty of other things along those lines would certainly qualify as gender affirming care.

Gynecomastia surgery seems like it’d fit the category.

Yes it exists. It can be adjusting testosterone/estrogen if not at good level, hair transplant, etc But I only know the surface level, not really the details much

Yes. Viagra, breast implants, breast reduction, hair transplants, laser hair removal, cosmetic surgery, even Musk’s botched penis job are all forms of gender affirming surgery

In fact, the US military has been pushing it for soldiers via testosterone supplements