Quote from: Aewin on February 05, 2015, 10:12:38 PM
Obviously it varies by location. I think I got pretty lucky, and I've only been on it about a month now so I can't speak for follow-up costs, but here's how it went for me in the U.S.:
I'm using a doctor, not an endo, because he was the only experienced person around in my area of Arkansas. About an hour's drive away. I took in my psych referral letter and my husband to back me up that he was okay with it (you'd probably need to take your parents), and he didn't even ask for bloodwork, though I did bring some recent bloodwork printouts from when I had my breast reduction. My insurance also explicitly excludes transgender stuff, but my doctor straight-up offered to bill the visit as a bipolar disorder visit instead since I have that as a diagnosis. He did discuss that diagnosis with me, and he also included "FTM Transsexual" later down on the diagnosis list for the visit, so he didn't see it as an ethical problem. A lot of doctors seem to be willing to bill the visit primarily as another condition if you have one, to help reduce the burden on you.
The clinic's out-of-pocket cost for a new patient visit would have been around $140. I used the GoodRX app to find the pharmacy that sold T the cheapest in my area, and was able to buy a 3 month supply at my dose for $40 plus needles (around $10 for 50, I think). I self-inject; your costs would be higher if you went to a clinic. But if your parents are supportive, it's likely they'd help you out with injections. I don't know yet what bloodwork costs will be in the future to check levels and such, unfortunately.
Best of luck!
All good information, thanks a lot.
I would LOVE it if my parents could help but seeing as how they're already paying for my expensive sports season fees, shoes, glasses, and bills that we struggle to pay I'd much rather pay for everything else on my own.
On the plus side, I'm hoping to be hired at a nice little bowling alley down the street, so maybe I can make some cash.
