Being Poor and Few Options With Transitioning

[Jasmine96]

Ive been thinking lately about my future finances after I move out of my parents house and when I move into college and I'm very worried that I may never get to get hormones or for that matter therapy and the sex change. So my question is: can you be poor (very poor) and get those treatments?

[Missy~rmdlm]

"Never" and "poor" are pretty strong terms for someone contemplating heading to college.
I'm a drop out from eighth grade, but I've made it work, and yes transition was put off for a time. It's not a matter of me getting help from my parents(mom.) She wound up in financial dire straights and I bought her house too.
The out of pocket has been around 10k over a couple years with my decent insurance, and yes that's covering my SRS.

[odysseus513]

College is probably one of the easiest places to transition. Many have health insurance that at least covers therapy and hormones. Find the lgbt center, tons of free help there. Congrats on figuring out yourself early. Look forward to your future.

[Monique]

there are many options available, I have no job right now myself so I understand where your coming from but I am actually having no problems, if you live in the United states there are plenty of health insurance for people who are in financial situations, I actually just got on Medicaid in Rhode Island since I have no employment but it depends on the state too, RI Medicaid pays for a lot of transgender stuff therapy, doctors, blood work and even hormone shots, pills aren't covered under it. but I would check out online to see if you can find any health insurance that would cover a lot of things. I'm sure you will figure out how to pay for it in the long run so just keep on trying and never give up.

[Veronica M]

As to therapy, I went to the local LGBT center and found a fantastic therapist who specializes in gender therapy. The great thing it is no cost to me. She is researching gender related disorders and heck I don't mind being a lab rat as long as it is helping me. Besides that we really hit it off as we are about the same age. Also if her research helps other people in the future, I would be proud to say I had something to do with it.

[stephaniec]

As to therapy, I went to the local LGBT center and found a fantastic therapist who specializes in gender therapy. The great thing it is no cost to me. She is researching gender related disorders and heck I don't mind being a lab rat as long as it is helping me. Besides that we really hit it off as we are about the same age. Also if her research helps other people in the future, I would be proud to say I had something to do with it.

yea, it's nice me and my therapist are the same age. I also lucked out because the hospital I went to for a long time kept me as a patient when I lost my insurance. I on a charity basis.

[Vicki]

I've definitely had my share of poor experiences. I use to work for a famous gaming software company, but I worked CS, so I made really crappy money. Living paycheck to paycheck did not help my situation out at all, so I decided to move back in with my mother, so that I could transition.

Currently, I make roughly anywhere from about 220-330 dollars a week, so I fall below the poverty line for my state (Alaska). I looked into getting insurance through the university here, which amounted to about 120ish dollars a month, and even then they may or may not cover hormones, therapy, doctor's visits, ect... for transgender people. I went ahead and looked into my options on the healthcare market place to see what I could potentially qualify for and luckily I ended up with a pretty decent plan for like 40 dollars a month. As far as I can tell from their plan description, they don't exclude transgender services, but I have a feeling that something will come up along the way. I guess I will find out for sure when I head to the doctor's office in May and they decline to pay for the service.

More to the point, I definitely made sure to save up some money so I could afford to pay for it out of pocket. I set back my tax return and started to save my money from my job to afford HRT, the lab tests, and the doctor's visit. Luckily living with my mother allows me to set back as much money as possible to afford these particular services. She is totally cool with my transitioning, so that really helps out. As far as school goes, my transcripts are held by another school, so I owe them some money before they will release them. At the moment I decided to put off school, I need to transition more than anything at the moment. I'm already 27, for my own mental health, I can't put this off any longer.

As per usual, YMMV, my situation isn't exactly the same as yours, but I hope it helps out to some extent.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

I've been thinking lately about my future finances after I move out of my parents house and when I move into college and I'm very worried that I may never get to get hormones or for that matter therapy and the sex change. So my question is: can you be poor (very poor) and get those treatments?

Therapy can be had even if you are broke, if you can find one that charges on a sliding scale. HRT may be trickier. I had to pay out of pocket for the first few years that I was on HRT (in addition to the bloodwork), so I know what it's like to spend pretty much every dime on transition costs. I have no idea what would be covered as far as GRS goes. I do know that you can get an orchi covered under certain conditions.

[Tori]

Transition is not cheap but it does take time, so you can budget expenses accordingly. My medical expenses have been covered so far (a lot of luck in the USA), so I try to budget $40-60 per week on makeup, clothing, shoes... etc. I have found friends and family to be quite helpful at times, sending me hand me downs or just going thrift store shopping with me.

Smart budgeting, patience and a willingness to network and make new friends have been my biggest helpers. Finding doctors and therapists who are willing to use codes that get them paid without my insurance declining them also helps (like I said, some of that is luck, but some of that is having access to doctors who know how to treat trans folk without the red tape).

I won't lie. Money would make things much faster and easier. My beard has had to wait its turn...

[Miss_Bungle1991]

In my opinion, I find all that crap about shoes, and make up to be a massive waste of money. Sure, women's clothes is a bit obvious, but I just buy plain women's tops, the plainest women's jeans I can find and women's sneakers. Doing it this way made it much more affordable rather than buying all of that really girly crap. Plus, it makes it easier to blend in.

But, that's just my take on it.

I tried skirts, make up, all that crap early on and it was not only friggin expensive, it just wasn't me.

[Monique]

most clothing that woman wear is actualy much more expensive, make up I haven't really tried yet but im probably gonna get some to hide my facial hair when I start to transition. pretty much I don't have to worry about skirts since I mostly wear leggings and tops and occasionally a dress, I look more sophisticated in a nice dress since I like to dress up and be myself at home, but soon enough I will start going fulltime once im on hormones which is covered under my insurance. most shirts and tops you can find on sale at department stores, dresses are expensive and I only own a few of them in my closet. it also depends on the person also some like skirts some don't, I myself feel comfortable in a nice dress or a spaghetti string top with a pair of black leggings and high heels. everyone has different tastes I still don't have make up so ill have to get some when I start to transition.

[stephaniec]

In my opinion, I find all that crap about shoes, and make up to be a massive waste of money. Sure, women's clothes is a bit obvious, but I just buy plain women's tops, the plainest women's jeans I can find and women's sneakers. Doing it this way made it much more affordable rather than buying all of that really girly crap. Plus, it makes it easier to blend in.

But, that's just my take on it.

I tried skirts, make up, all that crap early on and it was not only friggin expensive, it just wasn't me.

I tend to agree. nice jeans and top. I'm another one with no money.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

most clothing that woman wear is actualy much more expensive, make up I haven't really tried yet but im probably gonna get some to hide my facial hair when I start to transition. pretty much I don't have to worry about skirts since I mostly wear leggings and tops and occasionally a dress, I look more sophisticated in a nice dress since I like to dress up and be myself at home, but soon enough I will start going fulltime once im on hormones which is covered under my insurance.

It depends on where you shop. If you stick to department stores and don't buy really fancy crap, the prices aren't that much more than something comparable in the men's department. Dressing up doesn't interest me. Most of the women I knew growing up only dressed up when they went out on the weekends and as they've become older that's pretty much a thing of the past. I don't know....I just don't care about all of that "dressing up" crap. Any excitement from doing that wore off really quick once I saw how expensive it was in the long run and what an annoying headache the sizing crap was to deal with.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

I tend to agree. nice jeans and top. I'm another one with no money.

Honestly, even I had a nice chunk of money to live on where buying expensive clothes, make-up, purses, shoes, etc was concerned, I still wouldn't do it. I could think of much cooler things that I could spend money on. I would still buy the same stuff that I do now and use the difference to buy REALLY cool stuff instead.

[Monique]

It depends on where you shop. If you stick to department stores and don't buy really fancy crap, the prices aren't that much more than something comparable in the men's department. Dressing up doesn't interest me. Most of the women I knew growing up only dressed up when they went out on the weekends and as they've become older that's pretty much a thing of the past. I don't know....I just don't care about all of that "dressing up" crap. Any excitement from doing that wore off really quick once I saw how expensive it was in the long run and what an annoying headache the sizing crap was to deal with.

that's true, I mostly shop at jc pennys, macy's. jc pennys can be pricy but most of the stuff I have I bought cheap there, I would never buy a dress from jc penny's or macys though way too pricey, usually ill look somewhere else for them.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

that's true, I mostly shop at jc pennys, macy's. jc pennys can be pricy but most of the stuff I have I bought cheap there, I would never buy a dress from jc penny's or macys though way too pricey, usually ill look somewhere else for them.

We don't have a Macy's around here. JC Penny's can be hit or miss if you are a fat cow (squirrel?) like myself. I'm working on losing more weight so hopefully I get to a point where I can have a few more options down the road.

[Tori]

Casual is very wise. Blending in too. Cost effective. It is far too easy to stand out like a sore thumb. Some girls like that sort of thing. I don't.

But, I do like a little makeup. Light eyes, a little foundation. To each their own...

[Ms Grace]

Nice looking and cheap clothing can be pretty easy, if your feet are larger than standard though the cheap shuff is almost impossible. I wouldn't worry about the surgery at this stage, it's still a few years away. Focus on now and the near future. Counsellor, HRT and maybe beard removal (very expensive and lengthy process) for starters. Budget accordingly.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

Casual is very wise. Blending in too. Cost effective. It is far too easy to stand out like a sore thumb. Some girls like that sort of thing. I don't.

But, I do like a little makeup. Light eyes, a little foundation. To each their own...

The only thing that ever made me stand out are some of the T shirts that I wear. Their much more innocent these days, though.  Just shirts of Dotty Dog and Portia Porcupine from the Get Along Gang (along with one shirt of the main six members from the gang). Back in the day (from 1995 to 2006), it was all Death Metal/Grindcore bands (with the only exceptions: a shirt of Masonna and one of Merzbow). Some of the Death Metal shirts I wore had some pretty gruesome designs. The winner in the "gross out sweepstakes" was without a doubt my Mortician "House By The Cemetery" T shirt. The front design was okay, but that back design....LMAO....the looks I would get.  I freaked out quite a few people with that. The ironic thing is that I wasn't even wearing it for shock value. It just happened to be really shocking (on the back anyway). But at the beginning of 2007, I was burnt out on wearing nothing but black and I was sick of everything  being metal, metal, metal. I still love the music, but I was bored with all of the other crap.

[Veronica M]

As this adventure is just beginning for for me, I decided to lose weight first before starting HRT. In boy mode, I am pretty much a blue jeans and t-shirt person. But once this girl starts HRT, and things start to progress, look out ladies... I want to wear the nice cloths. (Age appropriate of course.) I have already started looking online and there seems to be a very good collection of really nice yet sexy cloths at very reasonable prices.