How did you pay for surgery/transition???

[adison]

How did you pay for surgery? I see so many here that have lost jobs or at or near minimum wage. Do you have a good job (over 35k)? Unexpected minor or major windfall? Financed with debt? Some else pay for it? Do you have a side line?  I make 11 an hour.






Edited improper language.

[Jenna Marie]

A "good job," by your definition there. We both make more than that per year... but we live in an area where 3/4 of that goes just to necessities like housing and food, so it still wasn't easy. We had to save little by little and give up quite a bit to put together the money.

Honestly, though, my wife did all the work of wrangling the finances.   I just knew that she would say we couldn't afford something like new shoes or dinner out.

[Zumbagirl]

How did you pay for surgery? I see so many here that have lost jobs or at or near minimum wage. Do you have a good job (over 35k)? Unexpected minor or major windfall? Financed with debt? Some else pay for it? Do you have a side line?  I make 11 an hour.

When I transitioned in 99 I had a job earning slightly over 100k per year. Keep in mind I had a house, cars etc. That doesn't matter because it was still tough. I cashed out a 401k and took the money to get the ball rolling. I tried to keep putting money in so that I wouldn't empty the kitty out right away. Still i got a really good start on electrolysis. I also had enough to cover therapy and hrt. The year I went full time I received a bonus at my job and that money plus the kitty = able to get FFS. Once I booked the surgery I was literally penniless. It was all gone for my face.

When I went full time as a woman and took my first job I made $60 k per year. A 40% reduction in income but hey I was full time all the time.. I still had electrolysis going on but it was starting to taper off. 1 session every other week, then once every 3 weeks then once a month. It helped a lot to save the money for Srs. Paying for the Srs surgery was the hard part. I bought clothes at goodwill and bargain racks. My car was getting pretty rickety but it still ran. The beginning of my woman life was the hard part. Making ends meet with 40 percent less money was tough. No eating out, no amenities or luxuries. It was all going mainly to either electrolysis or to save for surgery.

My strategy was simple. I did everything I could possibly do while I was still in guy mode to get to that full time place. I had electrolysis well under control, I had FFS on the horizon, I was growing my hair out. I was on hormones, actually only a few months when I went full time. Crossing that gender bridge was a gamble in 2001. There were no workplace protections, no nothing. Almost no one knew other trans folk except for me. I heard the horror stories first hand about stuck transitions and such. I didn't want that to be my story too. So I wanted to be as prepared as I could when full time day 1 rolled around. I'm glad I was so prepared because in the end I needed it.

My big fear when I went full time was that I would never be able to finish what i started, namely my srs. Luckily I kept plugging away it and my day came and went and then I was happy.

[JLT1]

While I'm not done yet, I have a very good job and truly outstanding health insurance, health insurance that I have paid a lot for over the past 16 years.  The policy covers gender transition and necessary surgeries.  For an MTF, that is electrolysis, FFS, SRS, BA, HRT, hair replacement and therapy, up to a maximum of $82,500.  If I loose my job, I can still carry the insurance if I pay the premiums.  I can pay the premiums for an extended period. 

I got really lucky.  But there are other companies that carry the same insurance.  It's $240.00/month more than the standard policy.  But when I saw that, I just about cried, for joy.  Everyone, read insurance options (if available) before signing up for the insurance.  I had no clue until my therapist told me to get a copy of my policy.  She knew.....

[calico]

I sold something that took me 7 years to build, I miss it but not enough to regret having surgery. Nothing and I do mean NOTHING will ever make me regret having surgery, I was ready for living in a box after I go home when I left for surgery. I haven't had to do that since I got back but I am having to make exceptions to catch back up....
so essentially I gave it all up for surgery.

[Northern Jane]

I started working part time and weekends when I started high school (1962) and found out that surgery was possible a year or two later but was only done in Europe (Morocco and Belgium specifically) and was incredibly expensive. My father was a blue-collar professional and the cost of surgery was about three times is gross annual wage!

I didn't think I would ever be able to afford surgery but I knew I was going to need it to survive so, being no good at saving money, I bought things that would appreciate in valve or at least remain constant in value. I also took any job that paid better, no matter how hard or disagreeable the work, and I did work on the side as well - anything (legal and moral!) to earn money. After 10 years of this, when surgery became available in North America, I sold everything I owned and managed to raise enough money for SRS (with a little help from the surgeon).