And, no - I am not talking about the emotional costs. Those, we know, can be very great.
But just simply, how much did you spend, put of pocket to transition - or have done so far.. I know it will all be guesses for most of it. but my cost analysis looks something like this...

Initial clothing and makeup, wigs etc, (during experimental phase pre transition) $3000 (over 2 years)
Hormones (despite being in the UK I went private) $500 until the GP took over
Surgery, inc hotels and costs $20000
Therapy, ongoing gender therapy for 2 years - $6000
Therapy diagnosis for surgery - $3800  (2 therapist, 2 visits each - one was Harley St.)
Paperwork changes (passport, name change etc) $500
Other costs, like jewellery, nail salon, hair colouring - $1000
misc $200

So, total to transition (without buying a new wardrobe) was approx $35,000   

(sheesh, that shocked me when I worked it out)

It differs for everyone, as I could nearly factor in a divorce and a couple of years lost income. I live in Australia. Being trans, but not transitioning cost me my first marriage, left me as a single parent of a 3 and 5 yo, and caused me to walk away from a lucrative business. So, maybe I could imagine millions lost.

But, from the time I started medical transition in 2019 my costs were (I will use US$ for ease):
Electrolysis $15000
Hormones $2500
Therapist $1500
Surgeries $30,000 (out of pocket/copay)
Hospital Insurance $5000

I won't include clothing or makeup as I would have needed these to live anyway, and same for hair appointments.

I read recently, the average cost of transition in Australia for MTF (Incl GRS, BA, FFS Trach shave) Is close to $70,000, and for FTM (incl top surgery, bottom surgery incl phalloplasty) is over $100,000. There is no free access to these surgeries in Australia, and we have to buy our own Hospital insurance which is expensive. This means that too many trans people do not have access to often life saving medical care.

Hugs,

Allie

Hi Everyone

I know I have mentioned somewhere in my previous posts once or twice, the cost of my surgery and it has always been in Australian dollars and the cost in Feb 1991 was $10,000.  This included the surgery itself and the cost of the private hospital stay, which was for about a week.

In terms of other extra costs I cannot even begin to quantify the amount.  You have to also keep in mind that what I did occurred over 35 years ago.  I never once thought that seeing my doctor, psychiatrists (two), endocrinologist and electrologists (two) was a burden, or cost to me.  I paid for everything.  These costs were just a part of my day to day, week to week, and month to month living expenses of being a female.

The only cost if you want were the psychiatrists, electrologists and maybe the doctor (more frequent visits during the two year period).  I still needed to dress regardless of who I was, shoes well I was no Imelda Marcos, cost of paper works was definitely insignificant and cannot be figured into, because other people were getting passports, citizenship certificates and changing names in various government departments.  These were just day to day costs that were experienced by anybody who needed to do such things.

I keep repeating, I never 'transitioned', so in actual fact again there was no cost or burden to me.  I never thought about what I payed out in regards to me living my life and I don't care how much, even if I had to pay 10 times that amount, I would pay it, why?  Because my happiness is paramount to me.

Take care and all the best.

Love and Hugs
Sarah B
Official Greeter

Nearly forty years ago, mine was more than $50,000. So. much. money. I could have bought a house, but in a way, I did, i.e. the appropriate body to house me. Instead, I had to wait until my mid-forties to afford a house and that house had drug houses on the block.

I was lucky that a lot of my expenses were covered fully or partially by insurance.  I didn't include wardrobe in these numbers, because I can't even begin to guess how many clothes shopping trips I did.

Electrolysis: $9500
Trachea shave: $5000
Travel and accommodation: $2000
Therapists: $1200
Hormones: $1400

Total: $19100, more or less

I don't recall exactly how much... It was back in the 90's

I think the biggest expenses were FFS with Dr.O (had to take a 2nd mortgage on the house), and electrolysis (most of it was done by flying from the east coast to Texas for massive electrology sessions timed to the follicle phases with anesthesia at a place called Electrology 2000 )...

SRS by Melter in Portland OR, after deductible, was paid by insurance - though the BA I had at the same time as SRS was not covered, and neither was teh travel from the east coast. If insurance had not covered much of it I likely would not have had FFS.

Another expense was way back then I also flew to San Diego for an experimental voice laser surgery LAVA with Dr. Lisa Orloff). Insurance did not cover it so that was all out of pocket. (I REALLY wanted to be able to "blend")

Therapy over a number of years added up -  but I had insurance so it was only the co-pay.

I really don't want to know what the total was (it was a lot for me back then but I never totaled it up) , or what it would be in today's $s... Or how much money I could of had if I had saved or invested it... I probably would be retired now instead of still working at 69!

-Karen

Everyone who responded has, in my opinion, undertaken considerable costs to get what they need. In the UK, it is technically possible to transition without any cost at all. The NHS should cover all hormones, therapy and surgery (bar facial hair removal).  I wonder if anyone has actually managed to do this?

I think it also shows that in the USA, you not only need insurance but also a good few thousand dollars behind you and a flexible career/job. Challenges that would exclude a good many.

THanks to everyone who responded so far.. truly fascinating information provided. Especially what you would include and not include in your costs..

Oh my, how much has it all cost? Hmmm.........

HRT - maybe $1,000 a year for the past 7 years
Voice Therapy - about $3,000
Insurance & Copays/deductibles - $15,000
Electro - at least $20,000
Surgeries - $5,000
Wigs - at least $10,000 - that's over many years

I think that about covers it......
Oh, if you don't know, I'm in California and spent most of that $$ on services in LA and SF

How does one save up or get the kind of money that they need in order to have a lot of these procedures done?

I honestly feel that if I didn't have the VA for most things, I'd need to win the lottery to transition or take out a home loan and use it to transition vs buying a house to live in. Lol. Which gives me a good idea for a new topic

My MTF HRT is $4 every 30 days or $12 every 90 days so that seems so little for some nice results.  Hair styling, cosmetics, and clothes are far more expensive!  No MTF surgeries yet.

Chrissy

   I just received a statement for my bottom surgery. Mind you this is just what was billed to the insurance company. $874,874.69 !!! This is crazy.
   My max deductible was $9k on the bottom surgery, still to be determined!

   Nose job (rhinoplasty) $7k out of pocket.
   Voice lessons $65 a week $3250 for the year
   HRT etc. copay probably around $300 for the year
   Endo visits $225
   Dental, Braces $5,400 (helped my self image so I included it)

  Clothing, cosmetics, shoes, IPL, Salon for hair and hair dye, pierced ears. These are normal expenses for a woman so lets not count them!
 
  Total for this past year $18,175.00