Making the most of my ins

[Turtles]

I have blue cross blue shield from Utah. I'm trying to figure out where to start. I'm not out at work such as I can't be outed by asking my boss. I'm ready to be grown and go trough a doc for all my health stuff. Self medicating has serious downfalls. 2yrs in and honestly my mind is starting to go places I never expected. So help is def needed mental and physical. I know and understand that ins companies won't cover most of the hrt parts but anything can help. What can I do? Thanks in advance

[Jamie D]

In my past experience with Blue Cross and Blue Shield, they had online doctor and therapist listings, and telephone assistance.  In the old days, they used to send out a book-like listing every year.

If you have your insurance card, it might have an 800 number you can call for information about your benefits.

[JoanneB]

After several months on HRT, lots of introspection, questioning and therapy your mind will definetly go places you never dreamed of!

I have BCBS also. They do have a fairly poor search function on-line. I think a better approach is through a local TG group. Get some names for providers and then look them up to see if they are in network. If not you probably have like a $25-40 co-pay This way you already know that they are TG friendly or not.

Not involved with a local TG group?  Best place to start. It was a life changer for me.

All health policies I've had through work have specific exclusions for trans related services such as HRT and esp surgery, including therapy. A good read of the policy can verify what yours is. If it's a PDF a search for "transgender" or similar terms should get you there.

Some TG friendly docs I hear will also "Code" the charges so they will not be readily excluded by wording them in a grey area. For example my therapy is listed as general depression though we do do trans related stuff on top of general life issues. HRT I've heard similar stories.