Hi, I'm a m2f transgender girl, and in the next few years I would like to go through Hormone Replacement therapy, and all the surgeries--when I say all, I mean all--facial feminization, breast augmentation, electrolysis, vaginoplasty etc. I want to live a long happy life as a Christian lesbian woman . . . I know transition is very expensive, but I want this with all my heart and I have for a very long time . . . I also know increasing numbers of people are managing to pay for gender reassignment . . . My question is does anyone have any suggestions on how to finance this? What are your ideas? Also I heard Obamacare now has trans insurance--Is that true? I also heard that California covers a lot for people with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria (which I already have) is it true that California would help me to pay for this? Thank you for any and all helpful advice.
I'm not trans but from the little I know I know WA State has a lot of good options for trans. Might want to look into it but you may have to be a resident of WA to be covered.
My way was to lower the cost. Including hormones, my transition was $3k. I did it by prioritizing and carefully choosing my expectations. Part of the reason I did, is because most people like you and I can not afford thousands of dollars in plastic surgery. I wanted to take a path that would be as accessible to others as I could. Some of the things I did not everyone can. People with thyroid conditions for instance can not take my hormonal medicine. I need it to function at the level I am trying to function. I am trying to start a business. If hormonal medicine was not an option for me, I would have had to settle for far worse options alongside it. With them I may not have had the nearly failed semesters I had in college. I would likely survive, but my ambitions would have been shot. What I am saying is, your transition is about you taking all the ways your sex and gender mismatch are causing you, and solving them with the means available to you. That is it. Financing those changes is something you are going to have to take step by step. Right now you probably have a ton of obstacles between you and earning money or even establishing good credit. Transition, at first, is going to take those problems, and move them from the inside to the outside. It won't solve them. You will no longer feel this need to breath that will keep you up all night and prevent you from being functional the next day. But you will be exposing yourself to people and situations that are hard to deal with on a regular basis. So in answering your question, you finance your transition by turning yourself into someone who CAN finance your transition, and you do that by transitioning. That is not as much of a catch 22 as it sounds. Three things you can do with little to no money are make up, voice work, and surrounding yourself with accepting friends. With those in place, I believe you will find it easier to work and go to school. When you finally have some money, laser hair removal and a conversation with your doctor can get you further. That in turn may be enough for you to function as yourself outside of the house. When you have spent enough time as the real you - forming the real you really - you can seek work as yourself or transition at work and change your legal name. This is where I am. It does not take much money to get here. My mental state is much, much improved, and I am a much more capable person. I still have problems. I am not completely accepted. But at this stage, I can think about seriously answering the question you asked. I am capable, now, of achieving the expensive surgeries. If I want them. I did go a step beyond here, and get one surgery, orchiectomy. My testicles were removed. This did WONDERS for my hormones and mental health state. Appearance wise, tucking is very easy. This one was worth it to me. It also stayed within my ethics. My surgery was covered by insurance. Even if it was not it would have been $3000 which is much more affordable for others. I am continuing to transition, but except for my minimal estrogen dose, I am done spending money on transition. I may find a way to justify getting full bottom surgery, or ffs, or breast enhancement, but I likely won't ever do these things. My problems are mostly solved adequately. So you need to decide, once you reach that stage where you are you full time, what you want to go after. Until then, the answer is to do your best to solve your problems without cash in my opinion. ---------- Post added 21st Oct 2015 at 06:42 AM ---------- As far as getting insurance to cover things, I have found the best path is this Come out to your doctor. They have to be supportive of your transition. If they are not, you either can't transition or you need a different doctor. I am usually against people finding a doctor that will tell them what they want, but the truth is there are ugly politics and not professional problems here. Optionally see a therapist. If money is tight a single visit can get you a letter. If it isn't tight they can be a valuable guide through your transition. Get an endocrinologist. Let your endocrinologist recommend other treatments. The endo and docs they recommend you for are experts on getting insurance to cooperate. Yes, some of us get insurance to pay most of the cost. I did for my surgery. But there is no across the board answer here, since every insurance claim is examined case by case, except let the hospital go to bat for you.
Thank you for all the excellent advice! As far as the expensive surgeries, I will go through them, no matter what, because for me, transition is not going to do me much unless I can enter deep stealth, with only family and friends knowing my background. So for me, I will have to go the expensive/plastic surgery route. That said, you gave me some ideas on how to get there, so I can afford it. Thank you.
If you have insurance, you might be able to get a good chunk of the costs taken care of or you'd only have to handle the copay out of pocket. I've heard of transguys who got top surgery paid for by their insurance companies and only had to pay for minor things like the deposit. If you don't have insurance (or you're is completely unreliable like me) and you're having a hard time making ends meet, there's always the option to use crowd funding websites like YouCaring and GoFundMe. I've seen plenty of people use that option and pull in hundreds to thousands of dollars.
