Susan's Place Transgender Resources

My father's taking a more direct interest in my transition as far as trying to safeguard my health.
And he brought up a good question - for whatever percentage of surgeries fail drastically, how do we cope with the aftermath? If we barely managed to scrounge up enough money for the surgery itself, how do we afford to deal with an infection, or a fistula, or a revision?

My father painted a drastic picture of a $100,000 bill I can't pay, and I don't have a good answer for it. I'm hoping maybe some of you who've run into these things can help assuage his (and now my) concerns?

Do you have health insurance? I'm a paranoid worrier who likes to overplan, so I thought about this a lot... and that's what it boiled down to for us. Once the initial surgery is done (and the immediate aftermath was handled by Brassard's nurses) and she was back in the US, most of the possible complications are largely in line with what cis women may also experience. Tears, infections, even fistula repair are all familiar ground for doctors who deal with women and especially childbirth, and any US hospital with competent surgeons ought to be able to manage it for no more than the usual copays/deductibles.

(A purely aesthetic revision to get the looks back to optimal post-complications is something a GRS surgeon *might* be necessary for, but that can also be saved up for, as it's elective. And even in that case, a plastic surgeon who specializes in undoing the damage from childbirth might be able to handle minor revisions.)

Major complications will be done by your surgeon at the time. Most major complications happen shortly after your surgery.

After care issues you can have these handled by your GP, PCP or a Gyno.

If you need revisions due to complications your surgeon should do them for free but in most cases you might have to pay with insurance or out of pocket for hospital etc.

Yes it is a major surgery but i feel MAJOR complications if you go to a top rated surgeon are less of a issue with todays procudures the what have been done in the past.

Izzy

Quote from: mind is quiet now on December 13, 2013, 01:05:35 PM

If you need revisions due to complications your surgeon should do them for free but in most cases you might have to pay with insurance or out of pocket for hospital etc.

Don't know if it's true or not, but my surgeon claims that nearly all revisions can be done in her office for no charge at all. One of the reasons I decided to go local.

I can tell you if there are complications immediately post surgery the surgeon will be directly responsible for your care. I've been under the knife 3 times in my transition and I'm still here and kicking and no complications. The doctors who perform srs have probably done hundreds of operations so complications while possible are still fairly rare. Nearly all surgeons will do
Revisions at no cost to you as well. Bear that in mind as well.

Insurance actually will pay for medical stabilization and corrective surgery even if they had a problem covering the SRS itself. There may be exceptions. Near term complications including the including the grand-baddy of fistula will hopefully be addressed by the original surgeon. I would not advise getting SRS without insurance, despite most insurance companies currently declining to cover srs. the rest of ones life isn't tied to the one time SRS.

I do have insurance - it's just reluctant to cover SRS.
Thanks for the help, ladies - I sent it to my dad and hopefully it'll help put his mind at ease.

Missy is absolutely right; I double-checked with our insurance to be sure. They don't pay for the original surgery, but they *will* pay to clean up any complications left behind, barring purely cosmetic repairs.

Quote from: suzifrommd on December 13, 2013, 01:09:08 PM
Don't know if it's true or not, but my surgeon claims that nearly all revisions can be done in her office for no charge at all. One of the reasons I decided to go local.

ouch!   :o

well worse case scenario is it gets botched and you could die, however that is very unlikely unless you plan on getting surgery in Mexico and have to meat your surgeon at a storage facility  :-X

now for the more likely, if you have complications the dr. will most likely take care of you, if you have insurance it will most likely cover most situations except cosmetic.

me I didn't plan for any problems and jumped in feet first with the grand idea of... "I'll deal with the issues however I can" it all turned out fine and I had lil complications but I had insurance as well.

Aside from that fact that the great majority of us that get SRS survive with no major problems if there was a problem a doctor where you live could likely address your issue.

Hell when you think of it having a baby is a pretty risky endeavor but women still have kids.

Now perhaps the important question that I would ask you is what other choice do you have? Keep the wrong parts? obviously for those of us that got SRS we choose to fix the problem and the risk was worth it.

Insurance paid my post op problem hospital bill; all $18k of it... and laser surgery and exams and...

Not saying insurance covers everything especially with the cost of good coverage but you'll want at least a good doc to do a post op checkup and reevaluate meds.

Quote from: Katie on December 14, 2013, 10:24:22 PM
Now perhaps the important question that I would ask you is what other choice do you have? Keep the wrong parts? obviously for those of us that got SRS we choose to fix the problem and the risk was worth it.

yup yup yup

Quote from: Katie on December 14, 2013, 10:24:22 PM
Now perhaps the important question that I would ask you is what other choice do you have? Keep the wrong parts? obviously for those of us that got SRS we choose to fix the problem and the risk was worth it.

Another yup yup yup!!