Labcorp, $128 for some set of codes I can't read
From the same day, $350 from the doctor for the vein puncture, testosterone, and panel. Since the doctor's office just drew blood... I don't understand that.
Of course insurance paid neither. Apparently, testosterone level isn't an important test for men or women.
I had to carry the blood vials to the testing center myself, too.
Transition costs for me have now run about $14-15k counting laser, electro, hormones, and dr bills. I'm not even full time yet.
Autumn, my first bill were off the wall, Endo $185.00 labs $1900.00, second visit 6 months later Endo $185.00 and labs $800,00.
9 laser sessions over $3000.00 and electro 42 sessions $2700.00 with more to come.
Name change cost $111.00 plus cost of parking.
I knew going in i would be paying most all of my transition expenses.
Paula
Yeah, the expenses are pretty substantial. I like that people think it's so easy to just wake up and say, "hey, I want to change genders." They have no idea how much it costs, monetarily, mentally, etc. I would have to put my out of pocket expenses at around $70k...so far. There's another $20k I'll be shelling out in a few months, that's a total cost of $80-90k.
~Sarah
I lucked out on HRT because my Health Care covered a lot ( $60 co-pay ), but now I am stuck paying out of pocket. Laser ( $ 1000 ) was by credit card. Orchie was from 401K ( $1500 ).
Further expenses are unknown, but the price of Beauty in immeasurable.
Janet
All of this costs a fraction of a goddamn gastric bipass for some fatty. I'm intensely bitter that our ->-bleeped-<- isn't covered and that stuff was/is.
I'm intensely bitter that our ->-bleeped-<- isn't covered and that stuff was/is.
Yeah, but that's easy. Its a numbers game. How many transsexuals are there? Now, go to WallMart and find the number of people who are having trouble managing their weight (see, I can be diplomatic if I want to be, I just don't want to) and it pretty much explains itself.
Basically, if we randomly executed a morbidly obese person once a month, factoring in the costs of heart disease, gastric, and diabetes, how many SRS operations could we fund in 10 years?
if we randomly executed a morbidly obese person once a month
Hey, hey, that's the job of McDonalds and the Fast Food Nation, and they do it very well. And its a lot more than one a month.
Quote from: tekla on November 29, 2009, 08:16:05 PMgo to WallMart and find the number of people who are having trouble managing their weight (see, I can be diplomatic if I want to be, I just don't want to)
/me twitches and makes a peeping sound as her grip on reality slips even further away
My HRT costs were pretty manageable, around $250 for the visit and blood test and another $85 for the meds, which is good for about four months.
So far I've paid out of pocket between $40-$45K for GRS, BA, FFS, HRT and about 30 hours electro. My insurance picked up maybe $500 before they "caught it" and said "sex transferal is not covered". Is that like a bus transfer?
But the biggest financial hit by far comes from the loss of my job. It's been the most expensive cost of transitioning.
Wow, I'm glad I live in Canada ATM. Those bills scare me!
What's a little heartbreaking is to know how different my life would be right now, if instead of living paycheck to paycheck at home I had been able to invest $15k in the market when it was down. I'd be sitting pretty with a pretty impressive portfolio at the moment. Of course, all of life would be different without GID.
After reading some of the other posts. I'm grateful that I've got insurance and they are covering some of it. All my medications are only $5 for 90 days. Seeing the Dr. is only $20 co-pay. The lab work for my levels is only about $80 for my part. Therapy sessions are $25 after the first 8.
I do work for a fortune 500 company that does recognize "gender identity".
I haven't started laser yet. That is going to be all out of my pocket. My SRS is going to cost about $20k + travel & other expenses. Going to borrow that from the 401k. Name change that i haven't done yet is $120 to the county courthouse.
*guffaw* $25 after 8. i'd go almost every other week for the hell of it at that price.
So sorry, Autumn! That is not fair, is it? Some of us are finding ways to finagle insurance into covering our stuff under other codes and everything. It is a struggle we all seem to be facing. Wanna be roomies in Canada?
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fganjataz.com%2F01smileys%2Fimages%2Fsmileys%2FloopyBlonde-blinking.gif&hash=4545ddf8251cf9c32ae6074d56e48bc34a755857)Kristi
I'm not sure if the bloodwork was unapproved because it was in close proximity to the same test by another facility, or if the lab agency they used was dishonest about fully taking my insurance, or if "Testosterone: 70, Estrogen; 1500, gender: male" did it
I haven't had time to call in about the billing. I'll get around to it after finals.
I just got a bill for my MRI and xray. I started laughing. $12.67. Yeah I'll pay that, no contest.
I always had the same thing happen to me, and then I learned a little about why I was getting hosed:
First, you might be paying out of pocket if you haven't met your deductible for the year. a ppo can have a higher deductible per year, but they'll cover more (I used to get all my HRT covered, my endo, and the bloodwork). HMO's won't cover as much: only some of my hrt is covered, endo is not covered, bloodwork can be covered depending on where I go.
Where you go to get your blood work done is important. When I was on a ppo, I could get my blood work done at the hospital where my endo is. On an hmo, I have to pay out of pocket for that. My HMO though, will let me take me my doctor's orders to Quest Diagnostics and get the work done there. They haven't been complaining about that, or refusing to pay, so I'm assuming that it's okay. *knocks on wood*
Quote from: gothique11 on December 03, 2009, 06:12:21 AM
Wow, I'm glad I live in Canada ATM. Those bills scare me!
Moving to Canada to transition was one of the wisest fiscal decisions I've made in this journey.. but why do I find myself flying everywhere else to have the surgeries!!! booo! lol....
I've spent very little Canadian $$$ on transition, as HRT and doc visits are covered and I found a very inexpensive laser tech here... but don't even ask me how much I've spent in US$$$ on gender conferences, and FFS, etc... and let's add in some half a million Thai Baht $$$$ ... Scary.
I did use to be a home owner, now I rent... all of my equity went into... me! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I'd agree with Julie though.. this is all pennies in comparison to losing one's job. I've been fortunate to keep mine through all of this... Knock on wood. My heart goes out to you Julie, best of luck finding a new position!
*huggs*,
Melan
The cost of beauty is not cheep. Electrolysis will end up costing more than SRS
Sarah
Quote from: sarahF on December 08, 2009, 05:57:22 PM
The cost of beauty is not cheep. Electrolysis will end up costing more than SRS
Sarah
I've just discovered this is true... eek
My daughter is staying with me for awhile. My bathroom looks like a beauty supply store.
Sarah
Quote from: sarahF on December 08, 2009, 05:57:22 PM
The cost of beauty is not cheep. Electrolysis will end up costing more than SRS
Sarah
I think the facial hair removal is only going to run me 4-5k at most. I haven't run tabs in a while but I'm getting pretty close to being done. I have to decide how much of the blond hair I want to go after.
It's estimated between 200 to 400 hrs. to remove facial hair. If the average is 300 x's what ever the price is. Think about it 300 x 50= 15000. I wish I could get it for that price
Sarah
Oh, but you've got to go for electrolysis for the whole thing because of your hair :/
I did two years of laser before starting electro.
Oh man, I'm lucky in this that I want more hair. Those electro bills are absolutely absurd. Holy crap.
Definitely not looking forward to paying for HRT out-of-pocket. Chalk up one more minimum-wage-earning, insurance-less person ready to starve for a better shot at being happy in life.
As I said beauty is not cheap
Sarah
I really feel for you girls. Your expenses other than GRS are much higher than ours, and there's more of them.
But hey - the only thing money is good for is making you happy (and meeting your basic living needs), so you might as well blow great big chunks of it on something that will make your life better in every way, every day, until you shrug off this mortal coil!
That's what keeps me going when totalling up the costs of transition, anyway :).
I cannot get my estrogen refilled.
Because it is a 'maintenance drug', they only allow two refills by pharmacy and the rest has to be through the mail order system. So much for temperature control.
I don't even know if I have to have my doctor mail the insurance company another prescription, or how long it takes for the meds to arrive, or what kind of cluster->-bleeped-<- I'm looking into. I'll get to call them on my lunch break today I guess.
And I was wondering what I was going to do with that 100 or so estrogen pills I had left from my old medication. Guess I'll be going back on those for a while til this is sorted out. And I thought that going to get a refill with 6 days of pills left was being prudent.
Edit: No way I can handle all of this on my lunch break from the looks of things.
Oh no, Autumn! My insurance does the same thing. But I just pay slightly more and continue to get refills at the pharmacy. Worth a try.
Hugs!!!
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fganjataz.com%2F01smileys%2Fimages%2Fsmileys%2FloopyBlonde-blinking.gif&hash=4545ddf8251cf9c32ae6074d56e48bc34a755857)Kristi
As I posted in my other thread... look into it! It bodes to be a LOT cheaper to get it through the mail for me... as in, no insurance coverage at all retail, versus a significant price cut in the mail. Just... my doctor's closed for the holidays so I can't switch the script :(
Find family, or friends, who practice medicine. I simply can't imagine paying all of that when it could be taken care of, for the most part, for a fraction of the cost.
Let me just go make friends with a pharmacist who feels like losing their license. Maybe I can give them ->-bleeped-<-s for estrogen.
Not them silly, family doctors.
So you have medical professionals in your family.
That's like saying "What's so hard about SRS? just get your trust fund to pay for it."
It's beyond insulting.
Wow! you folk do seem to pay a lot over there for everything. Our HRT prescription bills in the U.K are quite low in comparison. But to see a private psychiatrist here is about £180.00 per session (not sure what that is in dollars?). Laser here is also very expensive.
Wow! you folk do seem to pay a lot over there for everything.
Well, freedom isn't free as some would have it. And to be fair, our tax rates are lower, with lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of loopholes so that the more you make, the more you can keep. And there are almost no restrictions or requirements for anyone to open a business.
Plus, you can buy all the guns you want. So if your a little short on cash, let Misters Smith&Wesson do some collecting for you.
I go to Costco and buy 100 generic Estrace 2mg tabs for $10 and don't even use what little insurance coverage we have. Spiro comes from overseas because it is cheaper than Costco. I have a prescription for both. My doctor says she is advising patients with cost concerns to use the offshore pharmacies. She does my blood work and checkups for $110 every six months but now that I am post orchi, I go every year. Basically, my HRT costs are trivial. Not everyone in the medical community is there for the money.
Maggie