I am, but i'm not the only one. There are more and more insurance carriers that are starting to cover it. Many plans in different amounts. Cigna happens to, Thank God, cover it in my plan 100%. My company had offered two different plans when we switched in January to Cigna. The "Base" plan and the "Buy-up" plan. I'm thankful that I thought ahead and considered that should Dr. Bowers ACTUALLY be In-Network it would pay to get the "Buy-up" plan, and I was right. If I had gone with the Base plan I would have had to shell out about 20% of the costs. With the Buy-up, In-Network is covered 100%!! I had to pay my $500 annual deductible which I had to pay anyhow for reserving a date with Dr. Bowers.
HRC has a list of insurance carriers that cover trans-related procedures. Much of it is BCBS of various states, Cigna is there as well as Aetna (though they mention only very select plans allow for it.) I was initially approved by Guardian Health Insurance but that was going no where since the surgeon was out of network and the carrier refused to say how much would be covered, until a claim was submitted. Dr. Bowers office obviously would not bank on that and required I pre-pay the entire thing and get a refund minus the insurance payment.
Either way to get approved and have it mean something takes dozens and dozens of phone calls with lots of follow up. I was also lucky that Cigna had a Client Advocate team that seriously went to bat for me and I owe the team leader a lot for it!! He stepped on a lot of toes and went out of his way above and beyond the call of duty to do what was necessary. He even gave me his personal cell phone number to reach him for updates when out of the office!!!!!
That man is a saint!
Be persistent and dont give up when they say NO!!!!
