Now That Medicare And States…

… like Connecticut require coverage for our healthcare needs and private companies are including coverage for us we need to get the doctors onboard. The New York Times had an article about insurance coverage for us,

Under the Skin
The Next Fight for Transgender Insurance Equality
By Parker Marie Molloy
JUNE 12, 2014

But the decision is hardly a final triumph. Though thousands of people will now receive insurance coverage, many, many more will continue to be denied because of state-level restrictions on coverage. Indeed, only five states and the District of Columbia require that private insurance companies cover transition-specific care. Pushing the other 45 states to extend coverage is the next front in the struggle for insurance equality for transgender individuals.
[…]
The remaining states, however, largely argued that such procedures — including genital reconstructive surgeries, mastectomies and facial contouring procedures — are cosmetic in nature and therefore not eligible for coverage. In those states, transgender individuals have to pay out of their own pockets for these procedures, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

She goes on to say this about the cost of the healthcare,

In order to properly care for transgender individuals, surgical options must be made affordable and available. We need to stop fearing what we don’t understand, and push to end the anti-transgender stigma that empowers politicians and insurance companies to deny relatively inexpensive, lifesaving medical treatment. Medical science must trump public opinion, and we have both the knowledge and the power to help transgender people live happy and healthy lives.

I think the keyword is “affordable” because even though we have insurance many of the doctors do not accept insurance and are out of network and/or the insurance company only reimburses a fraction of the cost, the result is a large out-of-pocket costs for us that many of us cannot afford.