A quick practical question. I have some decent health insurance that covers counseling, but not - I believe - gender counseling. It covers things like depression, family issues etc. I'm sure this is fairly standard for health insurance plans.
Has anyone managed to obtain therapy or counseling for gender issues under the umbrella of depression or some other coverable mental health issue that the health insurance will help pay for? Therapy is something I just can't even hope to afford unless it was partially covered, but I really do need to talk to a professional at this point.
Quote from: Michele on August 15, 2013, 08:38:41 AM
A quick practical question. I have some decent health insurance that covers counseling, but not - I believe - gender counseling. It covers things like depression, family issues etc. I'm sure this is fairly standard for health insurance plans.
Has anyone managed to obtain therapy or counseling for gender issues under the umbrella of depression or some other coverable mental health issue that the health insurance will help pay for? Therapy is something I just can't even hope to afford unless it was partially covered, but I really do need to talk to a professional at this point.
Yes, yes and no. My therapy feel under the umbrella of depression and my GP put my meds under hormone imbalance. I had to pay $ for the letters and the seconds when i needed. What also helped me was i had a HSA account and that i could use for any out of pocket $$$..
Just need to ask and most being depression is a huge issue and they will place under that.
Lots of luck
Izzy
My therapy has been coded in the past as depression, currently as anxiety. Like, who isn't one or both?
Now, that I am in an area with qualified gender therapists, I am also finding that most to all take no insurance and tend to charge a lot. Unfortunately the out of network deductable for therapy with my insurance is $2500!
Thanks for the answers. It's a relief to read that I can probably get some basic therapy at least covered - and to be honest the depression is probably my most urgent issue. Resolving that, however, will most likely involve resolving the gender issues too, as it's the gender mess which is causing the depression. But at least I can probably go and talk to someone without worrying too much about the cost at this point.
When I first started therapy, about 3 years ago, the gender issue was on teh bottom of the list. Transitioning even lower since I gave that a shot, twice, in my 20's. I did ask around at my TG group for recommendations just to have at least a TG friendly/knowledgeable therapist. I had of ton of other issues which in my mind had a root cause of being TG that I wanted to get a handle on.
In essence, I simply wanted to get to be one whole healthy happy person rather then one lifeless soul split into two. With one side only being allowed a small glimpse of the world on a very infrequent basis and playing "Whack-A-Mole" whenever her head tried to pop out, out of fear that someone may see through my false facade.