I hadn't thought about it that way. Are lasik, etc. also subsidized by the state?
Doesn't look like it.
That said, it's still a medical procedure, and an elective one (Medicaid/Care doesn't cover Lasik since it's not medically necessary). Rusha hadn't differentiated between those procedures covered by taxes or not (although this may make a difference to her) but it does circle back to the issue of the medical age of consent.
(Sidebar: Gender reassignment may well not a good comparison if it's indeed an issue of being trapped in the "wrong" body, in which case reassignment is definitely necessary for one's well-being. This is very likely the rationale behind its being covered in the first place. Let the moralizers commence with the howling.)
If a fifteen-year-old wants a nose job--or breast augmentation, or Lasik--that's all within their rights given Oregon's MOAC, right? I for one don't know if it's such a hot idea to meddle with this.
Interestingly enough it looks like Medicare does cover chiropractor visits. Hypothetical: Would someone who thinks chiro is quackery have a leg to stand on if they griped about their tax dollars subsidizing their neighbor's visit to a chiro? "Taxpayers subsidize fake 'medicine'; residents cry foul." I can see it now. It'd be nowhere near as pitched or sexy of a controversy but once we start picking and choosing you might as well go big or go home.
