Hope this is the correct section... anyways ha. Hello, I'm Jamie and i'm wondering what the insurance is like in Australia? I  have been completely obsessed with a Dr. there who's ftm results are incredible. So much so that I'm considering moving there (not just because of that, I've been planning to leave the states for a while now and Australia's always been a contender). I've spoken to a guy who has Bupa insurance and wonder if they're the only one's who cover any SRS related procedures in the country? Worst case scenario i would probbaly pay for the procedure out of pocket but any information from anyone's firsthand knowledge is invaluable. Thanks in advance 

Hi, Australian here. To be honest though I'm totally unsure about the various private health insurance company policies for ftm surgery. The one thing to keep in mind though is that most of them will require you to be a member for at least a year before they pay you a dime. (Actually, we don't have dimes in Australia.) a lot of these insurance companies seem to keep information about their specialist payments fairly hard find, if at all, on their websites.

PS Australia would be a pretty good place to move to regardless.

Hi Jamie,

As Grace said Australia is a great place to move to, not that she and I would be biased of course!

Private insurance will cover top surgery and hysterectomy etc, there are no Australian surgeons doing phallo. There is a waiting time once you join a fund, and the funds have multiple levels that you need to examine carefully to make sure you are covered for what you may need. For example I don't have obstetric cover as, sadly, I could never have children anyway. The funds are playing a game at the moment in that they are saying you need psychiatric cover for gender surgery, this is a ploy to get out of paying for it, but if you take psychiatric cover you are covered. Top level cover will cost you around the $5000pa area. The public medicare system does cover most procedures for FtM, but there is a gap that the private insurers pick up.

You may well need a letter from an Australian psyche to get surgery, which isn't difficult to get especially if you have a letter from your therapist in the USA anyway. The medical professionals who look after trans* issues in Australia are very supportive and understanding and try their damndest to get around the system for their clients.

Australia is also very accepting of trans*people, we have strong legal protection, there are still some legal issues but we are fighting to overcome them and will do so. The major cities are generally very socially accepting, there are always the idiots but they are universal.

Living in a major city can be expensive with Sydney and Melbourne being the most expensive for housing etc.

My surgeon in Melbourne is pretty popular with FTM for top, wonder if you mean him. My insurance paid out quite a bit but that was mtf, there was still a gap that insurance and medicare didnt cover.

I'm with medibank insurance.

I love it in Australia, but there's not many Americans here. I'm not really sure why, as there's people from everywhere else.

Well I'm not American lol I just immigrated here, however it's been about 12 years and I think it's time to move somewhere else while I'm still young ha