How to Transition in Melbourne?

[RetroFuture]

I thought a thread might be useful with general information about the best and easiest/ cheapest ways to transition here not only for me but other people.

About me:
I'm new to this forum but its been very useful for me to view for a long time.
Im 20 years old, MTF and moved to Melbourne from NZ a year ago so I am a permanent resident. I have medicare but this means i'm not eligible for a benefit and certain services (I dont know if this will effect transitioning or not).
At the moment, I'm looking for a new job, something art or design related in retail probably so I can settle into my changes and new life as myself. I live with my girlfriend of almost 5 years now and we are very happy together I hope one day I can do art or design work for a living, hopefully self employed!


My transition so far:
I've been on hormones for about 5 months, I got my hormone approval letter in NZ before I came over after 5 sessions (I think) over 6 months with a psychiatrist there. It was very straight forward being blunt and open.

It took me a while to get settled here but I found Northside Clinic online and they have been so helpful. They got me started on hormones right away and have a lot of resources and information and I feel very comfortable going there.


Laser
I have some savings for transitioning and its time to look into further steps. I plan to start Laser hair removal soon on my face and my GP at Northside Clinic recommended a trans friendly place. Has anyone been here before:
Clinicalase, Shop 2, 220 Elgin St, Carlton, 3053

The quote I received is that it will cost around $500 for 6 sessions on my full face and neck (not sure if I really need a lot of neck done?). Its cheaper to arrange 6 sessions at a time. I will probably need 8 to 10 sessions from what I've read and what they recommended. So I will have to pay for some individual sessions also which is $99 for full face and neck. But She said by then it probably wont need to be they full area just patches.

Does anyone know any other clinics I could go to? And cheaper? Anything to watch out for? Any advice is much appreciated!


Laryngeal Shave
The next stage after that is having a Laryngeal shave operation.
My GP recommended Stephen Kleid at Masada Medical Centre, East St Kilda.

The overall cost with medicare would cost around $5500 they said on the phone. With medical insurance it could minus $3000 for the over night stay in hospital atleast.
They also told me the insurance item number which is: 41879

I've read here that Medibank is a good option. If I was to get insurance I would want to get one that will help with SRS later also. I dont know much about insurance so I would really really appreciate any help on this from those of you with experience!

Also what would other options for this be? Any other surgeons that could help with this? I also want to make sure im in good hands too!


SRS
This would be very far down the track for me. It would take me years and years to save for this. but any information anyone here has or things I should be doing now to help towards that would be greatly appreciated.


There is so much to understand and I want to make sure I'm doing all I can to choose the best and cost effective options to make my life as easy as possible. I know there are some experienced people on here and your help and advice would be so helpful to me! So thanks in advance!

[Cindy]

Hi Hon and Welcome to Susan's

I'm in Adelaide and we have lots of Aussies here who will help you out.

Insurance, get it ASAP, top cover and make sure they cover SRS. You will need to wait out the 12 month period before they will pay for any surgery. I haven't had tracheal but I do know Masada is a great hospital and totally use to transgender patients, that is where we get SRS from Andrew Ives (you need private insurance though and 2 letters).

Laser, sounds about right, I can't remember what I paid in Adelaide. See how it works and if need be finish off with electro. Do make sure they know how to laser 'male' beards, we need a high power laser to shift the grass!

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[Rainbow Bay]

Hello Lovely

Like Cindy said make sure you have private health insurance at least 12 months before you want to have surgery. It's really lucky for you that you are in Melbourne and near Dr Ives. I'm in Sydney and I've found really great health professionals to help me transition but Melbourne always seems to have so much more gender related services. Also be mindful of waiting lists for everything. Dr Ives' waiting list is 10 months at the moment.

It sounds like you have a good approach. Just take one thing at a time. I think getting facial hair out of the way early is a great idea. I'm still doing electrolysis but I'm so grateful I have the majority of it out of the way. And also be aware that if you need electrolysis as well as laser then it's going to be more expensive. I've probably spent 10k so far on electrolysis

Good luck xxx

[RetroFuture]

Thank you Cindy and Rainbow Bay

So I've spoken to Medibank and their basic hospital cover includes all the item numbers for laryngeal shave and all the ones needed for SRS (I found them on this forum somewhere). Whats the difference between that and getting top cover? Will they pay for more? At this stage it looks like they will cover some costs, probably most but there are still quite a few left from the surgeon. Right now my plan is to get insurance, then a couple of months before the 12 month wait is over I will organize the operation so as soon as the 12 months is over I dont have any more waiting to do.

Laser I can get start maybe even next week!

I will post back with more questions or updates or anything. Thank you so much for your help!

[Cindy]

Thank you Cindy and Rainbow Bay

So I've spoken to Medibank and their basic hospital cover includes all the item numbers for laryngeal shave and all the ones needed for SRS (I found them on this forum somewhere). Whats the difference between that and getting top cover? Will they pay for more? At this stage it looks like they will cover some costs, probably most but there are still quite a few left from the surgeon. Right now my plan is to get insurance, then a couple of months before the 12 month wait is over I will organize the operation so as soon as the 12 months is over I dont have any more waiting to do.

Laser I can get start maybe even next week!

I will post back with more questions or updates or anything. Thank you so much for your help!

You need private for the hospital cover and the gap in all the procedures, medicare only covers part of it, also the surgeons fee and the anaesthetist. You also need two letters for Any, you may need for the tracheal shave as well. Better check!

[Dana60]

Generally Top Cover will pay for a few more things, but they will mainly pay more for what they do cover. This may, or may not be important for you. For example they may pay for a private rather than a shared room, and you may not see this as important.

You do need to make sure that you have a good look at what is covered and what is important for you before you join. You may find one of the comparison sites like iSelect might be a good place to start.

[Serenation]

Hi, I had my SRS in Melbourne via the southern health gender clinic. I had Top Hospital cover with Medibank (was what they recommended at the time) and there is still a considerable amount you have to pay that medibank and medicare didn't cover. (Although still alot less than going overseas) Also medibank refused to pay any of my blood tests during my stay in hospital which ended up being about 400 dollars of bills from Dorovitch.

Masada was nice, staff are very good.

[RetroFuture]

Thanks to all of you for replying

My GP says for Laryngeal shave I can get the referral letter from a psychiatrist which is valid for 3 months, or from him with is valid for 12 months. Shouldn't be any trouble to get it from him so now its just a matter of time and money I guess.

I'm just waiting for some money to come through, then I get Medical insurance. So I guess its a matter of finding out what is more cost effective to get basic or top hospital cover compared to how much I will pay for the operation(s).

iSelect looks helpful thanks Dana60

Just a question, Do any of you have a rough cost for SRS in Melbourne after insurance and everything?

Thanks

[Cindy]

Thanks to all of you for replying

My GP says for Laryngeal shave I can get the referral letter from a psychiatrist which is valid for 3 months, or from him with is valid for 12 months. Shouldn't be any trouble to get it from him so now its just a matter of time and money I guess.

I'm just waiting for some money to come through, then I get Medical insurance. So I guess its a matter of finding out what is more cost effective to get basic or top hospital cover compared to how much I will pay for the operation(s).

iSelect looks helpful thanks Dana60

Just a question, Do any of you have a rough cost for SRS in Melbourne after insurance and everything?

Thanks

About $20,000, depends if you are interstate or not as well as Andy wants you to stay in Melbourne for a week or two post leaving Masada.