Changes

Third-party payment for injurious medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic child [[circumcision]] in the [[United States]] keeps the incidence of non-therapeutic circumcision of children far higher than any other industrial nation. Cessation of third-party payment is likely to reduce the incidence of harmful [[circumcision]] in the [[United States]]. Hill (2021) estimated that the overall incidence of circumcision in Mississppi, where Medicaid has not provided third-party payment for non-therapeutic circumcision since 1998, is only about 20 percent.<ref>{{REFweb

|author-link=George Hill

}}</ref> The only party to benefit from such third-party payments is the receiving physician, and/or hospital. The physicians that most commonly perform non-therapeutic infant circumcisions are obstetricians, pediatricians, and family doctors. They formed an agreement in 2007 to produce a new statement with the [[AAP]] as the lead. The intent of the statement was to spur the demand for [[circumcision]] to aid the [[circumcision industry]]. It was published in 2012 but received overwheming, unrelenting criticism from many critics because of its evident omissions of facts. The 2012 AAP statement was an acute embarrassment to the AAP so it was not re-affirmed and allowed to expire in accordance with long-standing AAP policy, so it expired on August 31, 2017. The AAP has not replaced the failed 2012 policy statement so it now has ''no'' official policy regarding male circumcision and does ''not'' recommend circumcision.

The loss of the immunological and protective functions makes penile health issues more likely. In comparison, due to the open wounds and raw [[bleeding]] flesh in a diaper, the [[circumcised]] [[penis]] needs much more care after [[circumcision]]. The surgically externalized [[glans]] is dirty rather then clean because of constant exposure to dirt, abrasion, pathogens, and contaminants.<ref name="vanhowe1997vanhowe2003">{{REFjournal

|author-link=Robert S. Van Howe

|date=19972003

The government policy regarding male [[circumcision]] seems to have been formulated by the military services at the time of World War I. It appears to have been based on the 1914 article of [[Abraham L. Wolbarst]], M.D., an ardent Jewish promoter of [[Brit Milah| ritual circumcision]], who published an opinion-based paper in 1914 in the ''Journal of the American Medical Association'' to defend ritual cirumcision that falsely claimed health benefits of circumcision.<ref name="wolbarst1914">{{REFjournal

The unspoken and unwritten official U.S. Government policy seems to be that it is clear every male needs a [[circumcision]], so support for free circumcision is provided without any questions being asked. This had been the policy of the military services since about 1917 when the [[United States ]] intervened in the World War. When the Congress created the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1965, the existing ''every male needs a circumcision'' policy was adopted. About 45 percent of births in the [[United States]] are covered by Medicaid and in most states free coverage of infant circumcision is provided. <ref name="craigG2005">{{REFjournal |last=Craig |init=A |author-link=Amber Craig |last2=Bollinger |init2=D |author2-link=Dan Bollinger |url=https://www.academia.edu/6394931/Of_Waste_and_Want_A_Nationwide_Survey_of_Medicaid_Funding_for_Medically_Unnecessary_Non_Therapeutic_Circumcision |title=Of Waste and Want: A Nationwide Survey of Medicaid Funding for Medically Unnecessary, Non-Therapeutic Circumcision |journal=Academia |date=2005 |volume= |issue= |pages=1-14 |format=PDF |accessdate=2025-02-01}}</ref> United States Medicaid is one of the largest third-party payers for medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic circumcision.<ref name="adler2011>{{REFjournal

===Cost of complications===Moreover, the [[foreskin]] has [[Immunological_and_protective_function_of_the_foreskin| immunological and protective functions]] that are ablated by circumcision, therefore [[foreskinned]] males enjoy better health.<ref>{{GairdnerDM 1949}}</ref> <ref name="vanhowe2006" /> <ref name="fendereski2024">{{REFjournal |last=Fendereski |first= |init=K |author-link= |last2=Horns |first2= |init2=JJ |author2-link= |last3=Driggs |first3= |init3=N |author3-link= |last4=Lau |first4= |init4=G |author4-link= |last5=Shaeffer |first5= |init5=AJ |author5-link= |etal=no |title=Comparing Penile Problems in Circumcised vs. Uncircumcised Boys: Insights From a Large Commercial Claims Database With a Focus on Provider Type Performing Circumcision |trans-title= |language= |journal=J Pediatr Surg |date=2024-11 |volume=59 |issue=11 |article=161614 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002234682400407X |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=39084960 |pubmedCID=11486584 |DOI=10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2024.06.022 |accessdate=2025-01-03}}</ref> Circumcisions have [[Complication#47_classes_of_complications| 47 cLasses of complications]], which must be treated at additional expense in addition to the expense of the original [[amputation]].  Many circumcisions are unsatisfactory and require revision by a pediatric urologist. It is said that pediatric urologists spend twenty percent of their time in repairing damages caused by circumcision. ===U. S. government medical servicesproviders of circumcision===