Yup.  I finally got the nerve to call a local gender therapist and leave an awkward and semi-stuttered message on her machine.  That was ridiculously difficult.  Now I'm waiting to hear back from her to see if I can afford this on my own...  Anybody know the usual going rate??

Sorry, I just HAD to tell someone!  This is potentially a big step for me, and I haven't got any irl friends to confide in.  (Yet.)

That's SUPER exciting!

I finally got around to calling all the potentially-open-to-gender-related-things therapists in my city just the other night-- To my delight, most of them are actually covered by my dad's insurance! I still have to talk to my dad about the details of his insurance before i know for sure what I'll be paying, though.

However, without insurance, the going rates seem to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $100. One counseling office said usually with insurance, you'd be paying around $10-30 per session (depending on your insurance plan), but that's all pretty rough estimate. Also, I don't know if gender specialists are covered by insurance or not, I just know there are a lot of counselors who are experienced with gender issues but don't "specialize" in it, who generally are covered by insurance. And... I'm not exactly an expert at financial stuff at all. I'm just parroting what various assorted counselors and secretaries said to me over the phone last night. x3

Best of luck to you! 83

That's great.
Hope all goes well

forward momentum is a good thing

Way to go!!

Thanks, everybody!

Wow, $100?  Yikes!  I can't afford that without insurance...  I'll have to see if it's covered. 

I'm excited, but trying not to get my hopes up.  I'll probably have to wait until I've actually got a job so I can afford it myself.  It's that or tell my mom, and... the furtive way seems best for now. 

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Post Merge: June 03, 2010, 11:06:35 PM

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UPDATE: About an hour or so ago, out of the blue, my mom asked me if I needed therapy and told me that it was covered under our insurance if I needed it.  It totally caught me off guard, and I don't know what she could think I would need it for... 

Anyway, I'm fairly sure she doesn't know I want a gender therapist, so I wondered if anybody knew if it is in fact covered?  Gender specialists, that is.  Or does it depend on your insurance?  (I'm in the US)  I'm going to take this opportunity to move forward with caution...

You would have to look at your individual policy to see if it is covered.

Does it really matter? Do they put gender therapy on the bill? It doesn't seem to make sense that they would only cover certain kinds. I know MD's will sometimes code different medical therapies under other conditions, perhaps you therapist can do that... Just a suggestion as I have no experience in dealing with insurance companies.

Hope it goes well for you! 

Quote from: snowboardgurl on June 04, 2010, 09:00:16 AM
Does it really matter? Do they put gender therapy on the bill? It doesn't seem to make sense that they would only cover certain kinds. I know MD's will sometimes code different medical therapies under other conditions, perhaps you therapist can do that... Just a suggestion as I have no experience in dealing with insurance companies.

No, due to privacy laws I don't think they're allowed to put what the therapy was for.  But if I ask my insurance company to pay for therapy from a listed gender specialist, and they don't cover that...  I'll ask her about that, though.

Thanks, KAT, I'll do that.