If you're planning on going into an individual plan... good luck. I was quoted at around $170 / month for a decent coverage plan most companies that I checked into. I applied @29 years of age, non smoker, no heart history (good health etc etc etc)
If you think this is a good deal, think of it like this:
Typically hormones cost (me) about $30 a month (Estradiol = $12, Spiro = $10, Finasteride = $8).
Doctors visit costed me about $120 MAX per visit, once every 3 months. Currently I'm seeing a doctor that is covered by a plan instituted by the metro area I live in, $30 a visit unless you qualify for a low income program, in which it is fully covered (lab tests at a greatly reduced cost too).
Typically, every 3 months I needed lab work done. These ran about $250 on the high end, but I could pay down $10 a month because it was through a hospital.
So at maximum, I was paying around $75 a month (since my labs were letting me pay down the bill at $10 a month without reporting me to the credit bureau). Typically, however, my doctor was nice enough to cut me some slack and half the price of my visits. All in all, I was paying about $50-55 a month out of pocket. If you are not allowed to pay down $10 a month on labs, it still adds up to around $160 a month when all said and done, which was less than the quote on my insurance.
By the way, I was rejected by Blue Cross / Blue Shield for individual coverage due to the fact that I was at a "High probability for surgery" due to my history with GID.
