Applying for a grant from the Jim Collins Foundation; insurance

[Guest Erika_1984]

This is a charity that pays for transgender health care, but only awards 2 or 3 grantees a year out of hundreds of applicants.

It has 2 requirements, however, I would be unable to meet: 1.) That I can make plans to guarantee someone accompany me, and 2.) that I submit a letter of recommendation from someone who has strongly supported me in transition, to ensure that I have a positive support system. I can meet neither requirement.

I've submitted for preauthorization with Dr. Bowers with my insurance company, as my plan does not contain categorical exclusions (but doesn't expressly include it either), and she is the only in-network doctor other than Dr. Kuzon. The thing with Dr. Bowers is she does not require anyone to accompany you, and only expects you to stay 2 weeks, and only expects that you make one trip; Dr. Kuzon, on the other hand expects someone to accompany you and requires 4 weeks, while requiring 2 trips. I hope it goes through. Unfortunately, because of the backlog, I am going to have to wait until the end of this month to hear back yea or nay.

Another plan might be to schedule in advance in Thailand, quit my job at the right time, empty out my retirement accounts (which I wouldn't be able to do without quitting my job), get the surgery done, and then surprise my uncle and crash at his place.

[Guest Erika_1984]

Also, I wanted to add, every JCF grantee has some inspiring story to tell, in which they connected with people and the community and gave selflessly. I have no such inspiring story.

[Charlize]

We have had members here who have managed to get the grant with a good deal of effort and luck. You are so new here and have provided so little information that it is hard to know your location etc. That can be very important for insurance coverage.

Welcome to Laura's and i think you might also want to post in the introduction forum so we can better get to know you.

Often we can help each other with many of these bumps.

Hugs,

Charlize

[Carolyn Marie]

I would encourage you to pursue the insurance options, hon. Policies don't always say, actually they rarely say, "we will cover this." If it isn't excluded, its a good bet they would allow it. Even when it's specifically excluded, it doesn't mean you can't apply and appeal. Sometimes they have that language just to dissuade people from trying.

Quitting your job and emptying your retirement accounts seems a very bad idea. Ways can be found to afford the surgery, including tucking away some money every month for a period of time. You don't want to mortgage your future, and even your present, just to have surgery right now. I guarantee that you will regret it later if you cash in your chips now. There are often side effects and follow up issues from GRS, not to mention routine medical costs down the line. Without a job, and insurance that comes with it, how will you obtain necessary treatment? Please do not go this route.

HUGS

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Gregg Jameson]

Hi Erika,

Welcome to Laura's.

Charlize and Carolyn have given very sound advice.

You may want to slow down a bit and think through all of your options?

This community is often very helpful in helping us to see our various options on many different topics, when we are at the crossroads of making decisions.

I am encouraging you to consider opening up to discussion about your options for the surgical aspects of your transition.

Warmly,

Brad

[Guest Erika_1984]

Hi Erika,

Welcome to Laura's.

Charlize and Carolyn have given very sound advice.

You may want to slow down a bit and think through all of your options?

This community is often very helpful in helping us to see our various options on many different topics, when we are at the crossroads of making decisions.

I am encouraging you to consider opening up to discussion about your options for the surgical aspects of your transition.

Warmly,

Brad

I have considered my options. For now, going for insurance coverage with Marci Bowers is best.

[Guest Erika_1984]

We have had members here who have managed to get the grant with a good deal of effort and luck. You are so new here and have provided so little information that it is hard to know your location etc. That can be very important for insurance coverage.

Welcome to Laura's and i think you might also want to post in the introduction forum so we can better get to know you.

Often we can help each other with many of these bumps.

Hugs,

Charlize

I am in Tennessee, but again my plan does not categorically exclude coverage of transition-related care. I also posted in the introduction forum, but I don't know what information you want from me, so I have invited people to ask questions.

As for JCF, with only 2-3 grantees per year out of hundreds of applicants, and all the grantees having inspiring stories where they gave back, it is clear JCF is not for me.

[Guest Erika_1984]

As a notice to everyone, though I have posted my attempt at getting SRS here, I will not post the results, or anything that can be used to infer those results. I shall explain why. For years, I was what you may call a miserable envious perpetual pre-op (MEPP). Living in a country that generally does not provide funding for transition-related care and not having the support, money, or right source of funding, for years I have brooded on this fact. As I made connections with trans people online, those who turned out to live in the right country or work for the right employer, I saw them go on to become post-op. Once they became post-op, my connections with them became charged and then severed, as in my eyes that transitioner went on to become a being wholly alien to me, experiencing wonderful things that I believed I would be forever denied. There was great envy, and wailing and gnashing of teeth on my part. Eventually, this wore me down to the point where I attempted suicide and at another point to blind myself, causing me to end up in a mental hospital on the male ward.

Now that I may graduate from MEPP status, I want to turn around and ask myself, What impact would an announcement of a change in my surgery status have on my MEPP siblings? I have concluded that the impact would be only negative, conjuring within them the same pain I experienced myself. Because of that, from now on, here and under this name my surgery status will be a secret, known only to a select few sworn to secrecy or who have a need to know it.

If my attempt at preauthorization fails, I will neither post here nor under this name for support, because the absence of such request for support here or under my name could be used to infer I succeeded. If indeed I succeed, I will not post the results of that here either. If I need support, I will post elsewhere under a different name and get as much as I can from my mental health professionals.

Expect nothing more out of this thread.

[Guest Erika_1984]

Well, I broke my promise. More on my point of view of post-ops seeming "wholly alien":

Also, people are forgetting that there is an "otherness" to post-ops that sets them apart from pre-ops and non-ops. A blogpost written by a post-op transsexual woman dated 2012/11/26 on womenborntranssexual.com shows the huge impact of SRS on those who get it, the powerful experiences of such a change, exhorting post-ops, pre-ops, and non-ops to acknowledge the same.

For MEPPs like me, it is the potential lack of the opportunity to experience such things that we so bitterly and endlessly resent, that produces such melancholy in us, while drawing our complete attention to the "otherness" of post-ops, producing a feeling of their being wholly alien. We often cannot empathize with post-ops as persons, because of our endless and narrow focus on that "otherness."