Hi Jamie,
As Grace said Australia is a great place to move to, not that she and I would be biased of course!
Private insurance will cover top surgery and hysterectomy etc, there are no Australian surgeons doing phallo. There is a waiting time once you join a fund, and the funds have multiple levels that you need to examine carefully to make sure you are covered for what you may need. For example I don't have obstetric cover as, sadly, I could never have children anyway. The funds are playing a game at the moment in that they are saying you need psychiatric cover for gender surgery, this is a ploy to get out of paying for it, but if you take psychiatric cover you are covered. Top level cover will cost you around the $5000pa area. The public medicare system does cover most procedures for FtM, but there is a gap that the private insurers pick up.
You may well need a letter from an Australian psyche to get surgery, which isn't difficult to get especially if you have a letter from your therapist in the USA anyway. The medical professionals who look after trans* issues in Australia are very supportive and understanding and try their damndest to get around the system for their clients.
Australia is also very accepting of trans*people, we have strong legal protection, there are still some legal issues but we are fighting to overcome them and will do so. The major cities are generally very socially accepting, there are always the idiots but they are universal.
Living in a major city can be expensive with Sydney and Melbourne being the most expensive for housing etc.
