“Data shows that more than 90 percent of US surgeries are considered elective or nonessential. Collectively, they bring the nation’s health care system between $48 billion and $64 billion of revenue per year. This is why so many hospital systems struggled financially in the early days of the pandemic: While beds filled with Covid-19 patients, many profitable services ground to a halt.
Yet the definition of essential care has varied not only by health care provider, insurance company, and hospital system, but also by the state, city, or town that a person happens to live in. Some conditions are clearly emergencies, such as a rupturing appendix. But “nonessential” does not necessarily mean something purely cosmetic like a rhinoplasty or tummy tuck. During the pandemic, Sakran said, he has had to postpone surgeries to repair hernias that impede people from comfortably eating or walking.
The logistical difficulty of defining essential care has been “an ongoing challenge for insurance companies,” said Jesse Ehrenfeld, a physician and LGBTQ health advocate who chairs the American Medical Association board of trustees. It “leads to a lot of individual decision-making happening that is inconsistent.””
https://www.vox.com/22678393/elective-surgery-nonessential-trans-gender-affirming-hysterectomy