What about relocating and looking for a job driving buses or trucks for a state/local government? As far as I have been able to surmise, states that have made trans exclusions in healthcare illegal are unlikely to be challenged on this no matter what happens to the ACA in the future. So if you were able to find a job working in any of those states (especially FOR a government entity), you may have better luck in the benefits department.
It may not necessarily net you a pay bump, but if you're able to obtain inclusive coverage IMO it's worth the savings at least in a short term, 5 to 10 year timeline. Consider - pre-mandatory insurance coverage, I spent $10k on transition related expenses in a year. With inclusive insurance spanning the same amount of time, I've spent $2k. What I spent in a year without inclusive coverage, I would only have spent over 5 years with coverage assuming my needs remained the same (which they wouldn't - they go down over time).
Especially if what you're saving for is bottom surgery. I'll spend $6k for phalloplasty, plus the $2k I spent on my hysto for a total of $8k. The cheapest comparable option in the US has an out of pocket price of $125,000. If I was willing to forego a lot of things that are important to me with this surgery, I could find as low as $18,000 in the US or go abroad for somewhere between the two ranges in terms of price and bells&whistles. Knowing all that, I'd be willing to take a pay cut if it meant getting inclusive coverage.
Also - if you're willing to go a completely different route - there are a lot of national companies that have inclusive coverage. With a degree, you'd probably qualify to be hired on into a supervisory or low level/trainee managerial role. The HRC maintains a list of those companies. If you are having trouble finding jobs in the public sector or in certain industries in the private sector, maybe give that list a look and see if there's anything that appeals.
