We cannot independently verify any of this, but if what he is saying and showing is true… yike.
This afternoon, Matt Walsh dropped a thread allegedly exposing gatekeeper organizations that are not actually gatekeepers:
🧵1/ BREAKING: The largest “trans healthcare” providers in the U.S. are rubber-stamping letters approving gruesome, life-altering surgeries. It’s such a racket that my producer was approved for testicle removal in #22minutes. The tape is disturbing.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
2/ First, some background. Ari Groner is a licensed clinical social worker who educates doctors on “trans healthcare.” At a recent training session for the Juniper Center, Groner explained that she writes whatever letters her patients want, because she’s not a “gatekeeper.” pic.twitter.com/8CVUWiYetY
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
Not a gatekeeper. Keep that in mind.
3/ Groner was referring to the WPATH standards, which major hospitals follow. They require that trans patients obtain a letter before undergoing surgeries. But Groner tells her audience to treat the letters as a “persuasive essay," and to green-light even suicidal patients. pic.twitter.com/dpQe6TCdRP
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
So, according to Walsh, they are supposed to be gatekeepers. They are supposed to be part of a long approval process that includes significant checks and balances to ensure that no one enters into this life-altering procedure lightly. But, according to Walsh, some people and companies have completely subverted this role:
4/ Groner explains that insurance companies won't pay for these surgeries unless the patient is diagnosed with gender dysphoria. So, she says healthcare workers should provide the diagnosis. “We're using that diagnosis,” she says, “to ensure clients get that necessary treatment." pic.twitter.com/TqFDMaVYQt
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
Except they are supposed to be part of the process of ensuring it is necessary.
5/ Whatever insurance companies might think of that, it's the industry standard. The popular trans telehealth service @folxhealth, for example, instructs patients that even if they don't "fit" the definition of gender dysphoria, the diagnosis is “needed” so that insurers pay out. pic.twitter.com/8hVoLXzAkH
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
Recommended
6/ Folx, which provides letters authorizing surgeries for a nominal fee, goes on to admit that “it’s quite possible” patients will receive a letter indicating a gender dysphoria diagnosis, even though they “really do not have dysphoria.” pic.twitter.com/j9x3ZyKmGf
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
7/ We reached out to Folx about this. A staff member confirmed that a "diagnosis" of gender dysphoria — with the word "diagnosis" in scare quotes — is a “requirement” for insurance purposes, even if it “doesn’t apply.” pic.twitter.com/t5wbZVgrSJ
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
8/ The largest trans healthcare provider in the U.S., @plume_clinic, runs a similar scam. They sell letters for $150 authorizing surgeries. That's how our producer @gregg_re received approval for testicle removal after a 22-minute video call.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
9/ In his intake form with Plume, Gregg provided a fake legal name. He said he had dysphoria in the past. But he stated he had never experienced it for six months or more. Under the current version of the DSM-5, that means he doesn’t have gender dysphoria. pic.twitter.com/MWoveVpQ2T
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
10/ Plume quickly scheduled Gregg for a video interview anyway. He assumed the identity "Chelsea Bussey.” He didn’t even attempt to pass. He badly mispronounced the name of the surgery he wanted. He made it clear he didn't know what effect the surgery would have. pic.twitter.com/ph8UbM3i6r
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
11/ Nevertheless, Plume’s nurse practitioner said she wanted to write the most "solid" letter possible to justify surgery. Gregg tells her that he once wrote an essay in school about being a woman, which everyone thought was ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/iY7Ec3Q1wd
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
12/ Gregg also tells Plume’s nurse practitioner that his father has been prescribing him hormones for years. The nurse doesn’t question this in any way. Instead, she says that arrangement is “perfect.” pic.twitter.com/YsB4BEkUpu
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
13/ Three days later, Plume sent this letter to "Chelsea Bussey” – who does not exist — saying he was experiencing "significant, ongoing gender dysphoria.” The letter strongly recommended “Chelsea” for testicle removal. pic.twitter.com/WzIMsjygS6
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
14/ The letter keeps capitalizing "Orchiectomy,” without "an" before it, as if it's just been copy-pasted into a template. Gregg followed up to learn why he had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Plume admitted they just use letter templates provided by WPATH. pic.twitter.com/7G0EpN3veW
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
15/ Later, Plume’s nurse practitioner confirmed that "in order for the surgery to be paid for," the dysphoria diagnosis would need to remain. At the same time, the nurse appeared confused as to why “Chelsea Bussey” had requested testicle removal in the first place. pic.twitter.com/AocC3z0FQ2
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
16/ This scam is the cutting-edge of “trans healthcare.” After launching just a couple of years ago, Plume now operates in 41 states. Folx is in 47 states. How is it possible they’ve expanded so quickly?
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
17/ The answer is that there’s big money behind this. Plume and Folx raised more than $45 million last year. @craft_ventures just led Plume's $14 million fundraising round. Is @DavidSacks aware this is going on? Are @transformcptl, @generalcatalyst, @slow, or @townhallvntrs?
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
18/ Insurance companies like @Aetna, @UnitedHealthGrp, and @Cigna work with Plume. Do they know they’re paying for surgeries based on obviously false information?
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
19/ Some states have restricted this kind of 'medicine.' Florida, for example, recently passed a law banning most trans telehealth services. Trans activists (and the Associated Press @AP) have complained that this law is 'onerous.' pic.twitter.com/PY10yi5xj8
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
20/ They’re furious because they know the “gender transition” industry is corrupt and fraudulent from the ground up. Protecting kids is just one piece of the puzzle. The fight begins there, but it doesn't end there. The whole industry needs to be shut down.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 7, 2023
And that is the end of the thread. We will say that we suspect that in truth these people still rationalize it so that in their minds they are doing their patients a favor. The ideology of transgender is that you are whatever you say you are, at least when it comes to sex and gender. So, they probably rationalize their subversion of the process as necessary to get these people the help they think they need. That’s our guess, for what it is worth, but we believe that it is rare for a person to be consciously evil. And make no mistake, if what Walsh is reporting is true, this is evil.
Insane!!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 7, 2023
And this even resulted in a tip:
Matt, if you send an investigative reporter over to @VUMChealth that is happening today.
A friend of a friend is a nurse who was placed involuntarily in gender reassignment surgical practice (@VanderbiltU has bullied/intimidated her when she asked to move). Based on high volume…
— JW (@C130GuyBNA) June 7, 2023
Obviously, we don’t know if any of this is true, but we wouldn’t be surprised if someone does the gumshoe investigation needed to find out, one way or the other. So, with that caveat, the full text says:
Matt, if you send an investigative reporter over to @VUMChealth that is happening today.
A friend of a friend is a nurse who was placed involuntarily in gender reassignment surgical practice (@VanderbiltU has bullied/intimidated her when she asked to move). Based on high volume (VUMC runs one surgeon to 4-5 patients at the same time – Dr just flits around castrating in parallel) she asked how much informed consent/counseling they get. Surgeon laughed. He said he would do it through a drive-through window as long as they’re paying.
VU ramped up their surgical operations after the child mutilation ban in order to make up lost revenue – go look at how haphazard and frivolous they are about castrating/mutilating mentally ill adults. Transing the disturbed is BIG BUSINESS.
Indeed, it is not just the mentally ill. As ‘The Redheaded Libertarian’ pointed out with a meme, autistic people are disproportionately likely to be subjected to transitioning:
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) June 6, 2023
Since the picture cuts off the meme, here’s the full picture:
One person responded with ugliness:
If you have kids, I hope they are all autistic
— Hundredaire⛏️🚜🌊🦜 (@Mr_Hundredaire) June 6, 2023
That gave rise to a nice comeback:
Autistic kids are awesome. They are also the largest class of children targeted by the trans agenda. https://t.co/uPr84q71Zj
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) June 6, 2023
And she has some cause to say what she said:
A disproportionate number of autistic youth are transgender. Why? https://t.co/0Gu59Qhp2S pic.twitter.com/FXvQYhNm0L
— Slate (@Slate) March 22, 2018
Still, while we think people rationalize this as not being just about the money, there is a lot of money in it:
They're financially incentivized to behave in this way. They're selling their most expensive product (surgery) with a lifetime drug subscription (hormones) along with a bevy of ancillary services (psychiatry.) And insurance companies are legally compelled to cover this madness.
— Dissident Soaps (@DissidentSoaps) June 7, 2023
And, of course, that means that anyone who buys health insurance is probably paying for this—not to mention the various types of government health care programs that are required to. It is past time for the term ‘need’ to be defined so it doesn’t just include when people just really, really want something. Indeed, the notion that this is necessary surgery leads to another potential problem:
Not to mention, tying up surgical suites for these awful surgeries may delay time-critical necessary surgeries for others.
— Anne "NotAFeminist” Cox (@Cox30Cox) June 7, 2023
That sounds like speculation to us. We would hope that the rational principle of ‘triage’ would keep hospitals from delaying cancer care for transitioning surgery, for instance. However, let’s just say our faith in the rationality of the medical profession has been shaken in the last few years. Most medical professionals are probably rational, but there are definite pockets of crazy—the pockets of crazy seem to be popping up in every profession, these days.
Yes, this is what the first transgender president of USPATH and the psychologist for the first pediatric gender clinic in America blew the whistle on in WaPo in late 2021: https://t.co/6Lbw88l61W https://t.co/CAByeqcc5g pic.twitter.com/Bec8zVzn4p
— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) June 7, 2023
Showing this to every person who has ever argued that “trans kids” or even trans adults have to get counseling before being approved for transition surgery https://t.co/2FiEq04uZj
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) June 7, 2023
Lawyer Ted Frank points out that in a sane world this would at least result in criminal investigations:
This is wire fraud and insurance fraud. Normally insurance companies would sue and the US Attorney’s office would come down hard to prosecute. Let’s see what happens here. https://t.co/yH70v9VBkl
— (((tedfrank))) (@tedfrank) June 7, 2023
Yeah, we aren’t holding our breath, and we are pretty sure Mr. Frank isn’t, either.
Anyway, one thing that occurred to us is that this might be the beginning of bigger plans. The other day we covered how the Daily Wire released Matt Walsh’s ‘What is a Woman?’ for free (for a limited time) on Twitter and how Twitter initially attempted to suppress the movie—contrary to the wishes of Elon Musk. In all of that, Walsh said something that we think might take on new meaning, now:
The film has been shared 30 thousand times in just the last couple of hours. Once again, the Left's efforts to censor and suppress have backfired in spectacular fashion. What a great way to ring in Pride Month. https://t.co/oo4BCEESwJ
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 2, 2023
‘What a great way to ring in pride month.’
Is it possible that Walsh has multiple bombshell ‘events’ he is planning throughout pride month? First, he premiers his movie. Then one of his previously anonymous sources sheds her anonymity. And now this. Could it be his plan to basically carpet bomb the entire month with events like this?
Well, dear reader, we shall keep an eye on this for you and let you know. And if you can support this website in any way, we would appreciate it.
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