TL;DR - Cosmetic Surgery is a personal thing, and only under circumstances like an illness or accident, should it be covered by the tax payer or health insurance

• As a person living in Britain, I am approaching this opinion from the perspective of having a national health service. With this in mind, I would argue that cosmetic surgery for one person, such as a nose job or botox should not be funded by a tax payer. It is not a necessary medical treatment and therefore should be payed for by the individual. Society shouldn’t fund aesthetics!
• It is my understanding that most health insurance anyway, internationally, do not cover most cosmetic surgeries. I think personally it should stay that way. There is the argument that mental health wise someone may really feel strongly about getting a procedure that would help them in that sense. For me, the money then would be better going into mental health services and therapies, rather than funding something that may or may not alleviate any mental health problems.
• However, for me there are some exceptions. When someones has suffered an illness that has caused a bodily change that they want fixing, I believe insurance should cover it. Again if someone has been in an accident, the same should apply.
• You pay health insurance for accidents, illness or serious medial needs, rather than aesthetics, in my opinion.
• If there is an option to pay a separate tier of insurance for specifically cosmetic surgery, then maybe that would work? However I think under the general understanding of health insurance, it should not cover cosmetic surgery.

It is important to make a distinction between:

1. cosmetic surgery in 'normal circumstances', and
2. cosmetic surgery following some kind of injury or illness (e.g. skin grafts after burns or breast reconstruction after a mastectomy).

Both are technically unnecessary for physical health, but should be considered differently. However, there is likely a large grey area between these.

TL;DR: Korean physiognomy claims that cosmetic surgery can make you luckier, healthier, and happier - everyone should be entitled to this, no matter which facial features you are born with

Many argue that cosmetic surgery should not be covered by health insurance because purely aesthetic alterations have no impact on our health. However, practitioners of the ancient Korean study of physiognomy would disagree.

Physiognomy is the art of face-reading: believers associate an individual’s facial features with their destiny. This practice originated almost a thousand years ago, developing throughout the Goryeo and Chosun Dynasties. Physiognomists associate certain facial characteristics with prosperity, and others with misfortune. For example, in physiognomy high-bridged noses are desirable because they are thought to predict wealth.

In the present day, physiognomists are often consulted by Koreans seeking cosmetic surgery. They believe that by changing their face, they can change their future. The professor of psychology, Eunkook Suh, explains that this belief stems from an “incremental theory” that many people in Asian societies (including South Korean society) live by; the theory that we all have an uncapped potential to change ourselves and our lives through hard work. Followers of physiognomy therefore understand cosmetic surgery as a proactive way to improve your life, choosing features associated with wealth, prosperity, love, and even good health. This has implications in professional Korean society, where appearances are considered very important – most job applications require a photograph, and some recruiters even use physiognomy to choose between candidates.

It is unfair that some people are less fortunate than others. It is also unfair that some people are less good looking than others. For believers of physiognomy, there is a solution to this inequality. If cosmetic surgery were covered by health insurance, everyone with less lucky facial features would be able to change their luck, amounting to the same level of fortune as those born naturally with it. Some could argue that this is equity.

Depends. If you want bigger boobs or hairplugs or something... look, you're gonna have to save up for that.

But if you have some sort of horrific deformity that can be improved upon with surgery? That can radically increase a person's quality of life.