So I'm soon to be of age to start T without parents being a pain and I just would like to know possible costs. I live in an area where I can't do much, if anything, until I graduate anyway because I live in a rural city where the closest hormone specialist I can see is an hr and a half away and I can't go during school cause we can't afford that. So while I wait I wanted to know if there's an average cost area. Also, I heard blood tests will be done. I plan on trying to at least get that done at a hospital nearby to save time and do something. So, if blood tests are needed, exactly what is needed?

Just trying to get some information to get ready cause I'm too ready right now but not able to do much.

way too many variables to peg an average

the doctor you go to, the type of T you get, the lab you do your blood tests with, what the doctor wants tested in the lab (the T level is always the expensive one) the pharmacy you get the T from, the amount of T you get at one time, how often you need blood tests all factor in

My T costs me about $40 every two or three months.  I don't pay anything for my blood work (it's paid for by Medicare, i.e. by the government) - but my GP tests my cholesterol, liver function, T levels and kidneys.  I live in South Australia.

I feel bad cause I know what it is like to want some actual numbers, and I was not very helpful in my first post.

My initial bloodwork and appointment was ~$600. No insurance coverage at this point in time.
doctor's office visit without insurance could be anywhere from $125-$250
The first vial of T (they last ~6 months) and supplies included by the pharmacy was ~$80

now, I have good insurance - my bloodwork costs $40 every 6 months, doctor's office visits cost $25 (I am supposed to check in with her every 3-4 months), and I re-up the T every 6 months at the same price as above because I have never tried to get insurance to cover it with the online pharmacy I use

Gel is very expensive per month without insurance, or even with insurance depending on how much they cover. There are creams too, and I think they are better on price but still not as cheap as a vial of injectable. If you can't get a big vial from a pharmacy, then you have get smaller vials per month that may be pricey.

an additional cost could be if you want to inject but can't do it yourself. Then you may have a clinic/office fee every time you want to go in and get a shot.

Thanks and it's fine spacerace. I know it differs with country/area/insurance and such. I at least can guess it's expensive and I have BCBS of MN which clearly states anything relating to GRS is NOT covered. They made it very clear so I think I'm either gonna have to work a job I completely hate, aka standing in place, to make the money to afford it or look at other types of insurance to help. It's not T that's getting me though, it's surgery. I know its a ways away but it looks beyond expensive and I'm thinking it'll be smart to start saving up asap. Thanks anyway.

Quote from: LatrellHK on January 24, 2015, 09:28:11 AM
Thanks and it's fine spacerace. I know it differs with country/area/insurance and such. I at least can guess it's expensive and I have BCBS of MN which clearly states anything relating to GRS is NOT covered. They made it very clear so I think I'm either gonna have to work a job I completely hate, aka standing in place, to make the money to afford it or look at other types of insurance to help. It's not T that's getting me though, it's surgery. I know its a ways away but it looks beyond expensive and I'm thinking it'll be smart to start saving up asap. Thanks anyway.

I saved for my top surgery within a year by living with relatives aka not having that many expenses.

I was going to do that actually but the college I'm going to is nowhere near any of my relatives, actually almost two hours away in the next city over. So thats not an option but it's in the right area so transportation to and from appointments and such won't be an issue after I move. It's just costs cause I'm attending a 4-yr university for pre-vet studies and nothing about that is cheap!

I did top surgery than started going to school.

You don't necessarily need a specialist for this. GPs can do it too. I started my T with my campus physician, which saved so much money.

I go to an LGBTQ clinic in Washington DC. I am still on my mom's insurance until April. My copays to see the doctor are $20/visit. So every time I walk through the door, $20. That includes blood work/labs. My testosterone gel costs $22 for a 3 month supply. The clinic gets their hormones and other maintenance medications subsidized, so the price I'm getting these at is generally not attainable in other areas from what I've been told.

So far:
Initial visit & labwork: $20
Return visit & prescription: $20
Testosterone: $22
Total: $62

Projected for this year:
- 3 month labs: $20
- 3 month appointment: $20
- 3 months of gel: $22
- 6 month labs: $20
- 6 month appointment: $20
- 6 months of gel: $44
- 1 year labs: $20
- 1 year appointment: $20
Total: $186

Your first year will likely be your most expensive, because a good doctor will want to monitor you regularly to see how things are going internally. My doctor has already got me booked for a 3 month and 6 month follow up with blood work both times. Depending on how things look at 6 months, she'll either want to see me again at 9 months or will double my prescription and see me again at the year mark.

Just remember that your costs aren't confined to just the T. You'll have copays if you're insured, or out of pocket fees if you aren't, the hormones, and anything you need to administer the hormones to yourself. With gel, I don't need anything extra. But injections require syringes, bandaids, etc.

Well I have state insurance that doesn't cover a thing, so I'm guessing everythings gonna be out of pocket. If I were to go to the U of M in the Twin Cities, then it'll be considerably cheaper as a load of therapists, hormone people, and surgeons all work there actually. Problem is they don't have pre-vet medicine as an option so thats a automatic no-go. Otherwise St. Cloud has everything else.

Now question, do injections show up faster or gel? And if it's gel, should I be concerned considering I do track and occasionally touch other people. You would think track is no contact whatsoever but I help girls with their positions and that sometimes means molding them into position, aka grabbing and moving and stuff. Also transporting equipment I touch, in the swimming pool, ice buckets for feet, you know. I don't want to mess up any other girl through that but I heard injections can hurt like a mug and I can't risk that for this year in track. Senior year now, I gotta be on top.

100% ignorant right now, I seriously have no idea and was never in that position: are you competing as female/against females? Have you discussed HRT with coaching staff? I would think people would be extremely against allowing that (you on testosterone competing as female) to happen for a lot of reasons.

As far as gel and contact: When you're applying, you're rubbing it into your shoulders/upper arms/torso area until it is dry, and then washing your hands. It should only be applied to areas that are covered by clothing and you shouldn't be doing any activities where those areas would get significantly wet for at least 2 hours after applying. So no swimming, showering, etc.  There is no transference in water that I know of. From what you listed, there shouldn't be any issues as long as you're applying as directed and no one is grabbing your bare shoulders. Touching equipment is fine. My doctor did advise me not to share towels or t-shirts (really anything that touches my skin in application areas) with women.

Gel and injections are the same as far as changes appearing. Gel you have to apply daily. Injections are usually once a week or once every two weeks.

Also - I'm on my mom's BCBS policy and my hormones and doctor visits are covered. Go through your family doctor and ask them to code your hormones and testing as an endocrine disorder. It should be covered this way.

Never thought of it that way, I'll give it a try.
To answer your question: I just tell them I'm female, but the athletics director knows I am a guy, so it's complicated. My girls track team is just females, and we've discussed this. We said to just have me compete as female but if I do start T during the season I am to immediately let them know so we can make adjustments. My fear is that the adjustment will be no T or no track, so I hoping it doesn't come to that. I can't go on through high school this year without track and if I start T I don't think I'll be able to stop for the season even.

I mean, I know you don't want to hear it, but from a competitiveness standpoint, it really should come to no T or no track. T is going to increase the size, strength, and capacity of your muscles. That is a performance enhancement when you are competing against women. It doesn't make for an even playing field. If a competitor were to find out and make a big deal out of it, they'd be absolutely justified.

Oh we understood that and this is where it becomes an issue.
I want to do track. I run, have been since the 7th grade. I tell people, "it's not just a sport for me, it's an important aspect of my high school career and basically my life." So track means a lot to me.
Now this issue is this: I am female (for now) so I compete with girls. If I were to join the boys track team right now, they would have to switch their status to a mixed gender team. So we talked and discussed and said if I start T in early March or Feb, they could get me into the boys track team. Otherwise there may be issues.
My options are basically set as: T or track. I know I probably can't do both, and I hate having to choose, but in all reality track. I need track for ANY chance at a scholarship. I've waited for T and, in a realistic setting if I had to choose, I can wait longer.

I'd like to say that's complete bull->-bleeped-<- and it's either they aren't educated on the subject or they don't want you running a muck on the mens team. There are rules and regulations that allows trans people to play on their preferred genders teams. You hear of all the college trans ladies on the ladies teams and people flipping out about how it's not fair. As long as you are taking hormones, it shouldn't matter. Even if you weren't taking hormones you'd be allowed on the mens team. It would just mean more work for you. If they give you a problem I'd suggest speaking to an attorney who knows a lot on gender issues and discrimination.

Back to your original question.

I would suggest finding a clinic that specializes in hrt. If not, you're going to pay a lot for bloodwork etc.

My clinic is up in NYC, it's a mount sinai clinic based off the main hospital. It costs me 40 dollars to get there.

At the beginning I went every two weeks. Occasionally 3 times a month depending how the month got laid out. So, $80-120 a month right there. Everything at the clinic was free. They're a low income patient clinic, as long as you become a patient under 18, you won't need to pay anything until you're 25.

My blood work is free
immunizations, anything I want to get. Even std tests, nutritionists, therapy, or if I wanted to go to him for something like a physical.

Now, I have to pay for my vials and syringes.

1ml vial costs me roughly 25 dollars, with a goodrx coupon. They can cost less depending on which pharmacy you go to.
10ml vials I get now run me $65 because of the pharmacy I decided to go with. I could get it as cheap as $43.
For a box of 100 syringes, it costs me 18 dollars.
For a sharps container, that was 5.
I do my injections once a week, and the syringes will roughly last me 2 years.
My t will last me a good 10 months give or take. so I'm looking at spending $150 a year on t

I only need to work 18 hours at a job paying 8.50 and it'll last me an entire year on t, without doctors appointments.

You can run track AND start T...  The Minnesota State High School League passed an anti-discrimination law in December of 2014 allowing a student to participate with the team of their preferred gender, so don't let anybody tell you that you can't!  Minnesota is generally pretty trans-friendly, particularly in Minneapolis, and I am confident you will be able to find a doc to help you navigate the insurance part of transition. 

Quote from: HeyTrace19 on January 29, 2015, 11:58:58 AM
You can run track AND start T...  The Minnesota State High School League passed an anti-discrimination law in December of 2014 allowing a student to participate with the team of their preferred gender, so don't let anybody tell you that you can't!  Minnesota is generally pretty trans-friendly, particularly in Minneapolis, and I am confident you will be able to find a doc to help you navigate the insurance part of transition. 

I thought that law applied to MtF transgenders and when into affect starting after the 2015 school year, when I graduate, so maybe I'm mistaken.
I live in Brainerd btw. I know Minneapolis is trans-friendly, I'm fully aware of that. But my location and the fact that my grandmother refuses to drive me anywhere for a "stupid meeting" has me grounded in place. Otherwise I'll look into that law and see what happens.

Obviously it varies by location. I think I got pretty lucky, and I've only been on it about a month now so I can't speak for follow-up costs, but here's how it went for me in the U.S.:

I'm using a doctor, not an endo, because he was the only experienced person around in my area of Arkansas. About an hour's drive away. I took in my psych referral letter and my husband to back me up that he was okay with it (you'd probably need to take your parents), and he didn't even ask for bloodwork, though I did bring some recent bloodwork printouts from when I had my breast reduction. My insurance also explicitly excludes transgender stuff, but my doctor straight-up offered to bill the visit as a bipolar disorder visit instead since I have that as a diagnosis. He did discuss that diagnosis with me, and he also included "FTM Transsexual" later down on the diagnosis list for the visit, so he didn't see it as an ethical problem. A lot of doctors seem to be willing to bill the visit primarily as another condition if you have one, to help reduce the burden on you.

The clinic's out-of-pocket cost for a new patient visit would have been around $140. I used the GoodRX app to find the pharmacy that sold T the cheapest in my area, and was able to buy a 3 month supply at my dose for $40 plus needles (around $10 for 50, I think). I self-inject; your costs would be higher if you went to a clinic. But if your parents are supportive, it's likely they'd help you out with injections. I don't know yet what bloodwork costs will be in the future to check levels and such, unfortunately.

Best of luck!