Survived on beans on toast for a month.

Quote from: hyenateeth on August 12, 2011, 12:04:04 PM
Survived on beans on toast for a month.

LOL! Sounds like me. PB&J and ramen ftw

Some of you seem to be paying way too much for HRT. You have to shop around a little, the Internet, local government subsidized pharmacies, LGBT clinics and such.
I did go to my nearest pharmacy and they asked for about $50 a month and this was a bit cheaper option than the 2nd closest one. I then went to an other pharmacy a little further away but they let me take up to 3 months supply so its not a big deal. I payed $38 for 3 months worth of E and S. Can't complain about that monthly price really, I drink more beer a month that that which i would always trade for the meds if I needed to. I shop for the wardrobe at Goodwill and such.

Makeup comes to about $10 a month. 
My doctor has a sliding scale and I do blood work twice a year $150 each which I cover with my HSA.
LHR is a bit pricey but that's on my Visa. I moved into a smaller apartment to be able to afford that.

Name change cost in WA state $150 with $5 for each copy. Where do you people live to have to pay $500 for the name change? this is crazy, I am so sorry!

Overall the cost of surgery is what is breaking my head, but my daily dose of sanity is totally affordable.

I did find estrace on healthwarehouse.com for about half the price of drugstore.com.

Though the truth is, what insurance doesn't cover is only about $20 a month for me (for meds).  I'm not inclined to shop around for the couple bucks it might save me.  Call me lazy, but I guess I can afford to be lazy.

I agree that name change costing 500 dollars is crazy O_O

I'd have to pawn my PS3 and games for that kind of cash, and we all know that I can't do that lol

My T really isn't so expensive. It's around $10 per month once I factor syringes and such in. That's without insurance. My doc only wants about $60 per visit no insurance but the bloodwork and the name change are the expensive bits.

Got some apps in at places near by and got my fingers crossed. Thinking that instead of having a part time job and wasting my time on the bus maybe I can get a full time job closer and put in way more hours. Just hoping that a future employer will see past my legal name and realize that I'm not interested in special treatment 

Thank you everyone for the responses so far. It's been interesting and helpful to read them all. I just hope that eventually some of our hormones and such will be covered by insurance.

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ote author=stiltsk link=topic=103394.msg773038#msg773038 date=1313174895]
I agree that name change costing 500 dollars is crazy O_O

I'd have to pawn my PS3 and games for that kind of cash, and we all know that I can't do that lol
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Try 400 for legal fees, and 400 more for newspaper notification in Ca.

I am also over 40 (41) and my insurance covers nothing. My wife and I both work (she just found a new job after 6 months) and we saved when we were younger. After the first year the blood work costs drop, I only have it done once a year now so the costs are very minimal at this point. I had money saved to pay for top surgery and name change. I guess the only advantage to being older when transitioning.
Myles

$400 twice a year for the endo, T is $60 for 5 months.

I am undergoing transition through the Monash Gender Clinic in Melbourne, so a lot of my expenses , but not all, are covered by Medicare.  If they were not it would be a lot slower.

Karen.

I know about the beans and toast thing.  For me it was potatoes and eggs. When could buy food that's all I would get. I usually found ways to get food without begging.  Happy hour was a great time in Silicon Valley when I was trying to pay for all the loans after surgery. I would just dress nice and go in for the hordeurves (sic)  All I had to do was to get a gent to buy me a drink and I was good. I'd usually just get a diet coke.... and the food. I can't believe how I made it through those few years. My apartment was very near a park. I used to crash company parties all the time. I was such a sleeze when it came to getting something to eat.

But... I did have an ace in my hand. I had a degree in engineering. If it weren't for that degree and the work that I procured with it, I don't know exactly how I would have managed.

Cindi

In the beginning (No this isn't going to be biblical) I was fairly well off, but as transition progressed I found that the money from my job wasn't cutting it.  I turned to taxi driving after work, long hours, and dealing with the drunks on the weekend.  It was a tough go but it helped out.

Steph

So far, not so well. Due to my job only being part-time and them not wanting to put me on full-time, I only make about 400$ a month. No other place in town wants to hire me, so I can't get a second job either. (Going to keep trying though.) I also don't have any form of health insurance, so, pretty much, transitioning and all that is involved with it, is costing me/going to cost me, everything I make for a long while.
As far as getting my name changed goes, I'm giving the 'Common Usage Law' a shot before I dish out 500$.

  Sheesh,  My HRT bill is about $46 per month.  I am on a limited income and I don't know how long it will last.  My roof needs repairs before winter sets in and my job prospects are waning even more.  It is hard to get good medical in these hard times.  Like everyone else, I am riding these difficult things out that are happening now the best I can. 
  Joelene

It can be expense, but here is some of my costs. HRT is 95$. Doctor visit is 128 every 3 or 4 months for check up and blood draw The labs are about $60. Laser is 150 which I am wrapping soon been going doing the laser thing since last October, then it is off to Electrolysis to finish the cursed white hairs. 

I do have insurance, but it totally blows. I don't pay anything out of pocket to have the insurance, but it has a high deductible and I pay the full cost unless the price has been discounted by the insurance company and doctor and what not or something to that effect. Once my deductible is met then i pay only 20% of the cost which it should be met in December.

Basically I budget for everything now a days. If I want those boots I saw then I have to budget and save up for it, can't do the pay now regret later thing lol. I bring my own lunch now. I try to limit how often I go out to eat as well. I don't smoke anymore so I don't have to worry about that cost. Been trying to get another job that pays more but no luck yet, but I will keep looking.

  Hmmm.  Jenni, identical times on our tickers!
  Joelene

I still think it's truly sad (and traumatizing for me, personally) that transitioning isn't covered by insurgence. Sure, there's the greedy folks (including Trans here) who say "I don't want my tax dollars going to some dude turning into a woman/I don't want my tax dollars going to some Trans who wants to look prettier when she just needs to go to church and forget appearance like I did." but the reality is that taxes get sent to the government in like a huge lump sum, and then the government divides it from there; it'd be a 1 in a Million chance that any conservative person's tax money would go directly to the cause they dislike. And yes, I'm talking about the my opinion that not only should Transitioning be covered by the normal health insurance companies, but by more-affordable government-backed insurance policies as well.

I mean, when I've been a hard worker and never broken the law in my entire life (absolutely no legal record), I believe that I deserve more benefits than someone in the ghetto who's out robbing stores and doing drugs every day of their lives, the very people who cost our government huge amounts of money, both by mooching and jail fees. Yet those people are given $50-a-month housing, almost all the medical coverage they need, ect ect just because they follow the rule of "making a child" (which is essential for many government plans, having a baby - again, just another way religious views and agendas control healthcare and living programs.) In the eyes of the government, we're somehow the lawbreaking fellons that deserve the least amount of medical support out of anyone in the entire country, despite the fact that our suicide rates prove that we need it the most.

On a side note, thank goodness transitioning medications are cheap, but the reality is that doctors vists aren't, and they're IMO required - I wouldn't attempt a self-medicated transition for it. However, even doctors visit's are slightly affordable, and wouldn't be a huge problem for me; the biggest problems are things like year-long therapy sessions (I would estimate this "RLE" thing costs an upward of $1,000 or more, and the suicide rate of waiting a year to transition is through the roof) that truly aren't needed for every individual, and overall, anything related to our medical care is currently in some of the most discriminatory phases possible. It's like if this country suddenly said "Hey, if you want to get on welfare, you have to pay $2,000 and go a year being homeless first for us to make sure you're right in the head!" But I also think that RLE therapy should be covered by insurance as well, and it's not. 

One huge problem as well is that government-backed insurance policies here do not cover dental care; it's truly horrible, literally every government-insurance dependent person I've ever known has rotting, black teeth. It's really just sick what this country puts people through, all in the name of "if you're not a hard worker who can't afford the most expensive health insurance (aka if you were born a happy straight person with rich parents), then you don't deserve to be healthy and happy."

You don't need 1 of year therapy with your 1 year RLE in the states.

By being a Scottish citizen. Consultations with doctors and gender clinics are free, HRT is free, SRS is free, a name change costs however much it costs to print a single sheet of A4 paper off your computer... I still have expenses, most notably hair removal, and extra cosmetics like FFS and breast implants are completely out of my pocket if I decide I want them. Still, the sum of money I have to drum up is minimal compared to what people around the globe have to pay. I'm extremely aware of how lucky I am to have been born where I was, and I am truly amazed and moved at what many transgender people abroad have to go through, struggling with the question of finance on top of the already crushing difficulties of coming to terms with who you are. I can't even begin to tell you how much admiration I have for the strength and resourcefulness of many of you. I could never do what you do.

There's insurance companies that are helpful to transfolk - like Cigna, for example, they even cover SRS surgeries. There are some others I've researched but have forgotten. When I go for blood work every 3 months that's covered if it's coded under a "Wellness" visit. Not sure if I can get T through insurance yet, but I'm working on it.