Cost of SRS currently

[Guest Janel]

Hello,

My husband and I just found out that our "good" insurance will not cover any care for our (MTF) daughter. I've found out roughly what it will cost for the hormones with the accompanying office visits and blood work. Our daughter has just turned 16, so it's two years before surgery will be an option. Has anyone had surgery recently (we're in Vermont) who can tell me what this might cost paying out of pocket?

Thanks,

-Janel

[Paula ult]

It is best if you contact some of the surgeons to get their current prices, Dr Mcginn now charges $21,000.00 according to her web site this price includes the hospital stay, operating room fees, anesthesia fees, and dilators, it does not include travel, hotel arrangements, food or incidentals, she was my surgeon and the cost was lower a few years ago.

Below is a link to surgeons and other doctors:

http://www.lauras-playground.com/medical_link.htm

Paula

[Guest]

If memory serves correctly.

Dr. Bowers GCS consult was quoted at $25,000us in 2014,

Huggs,

Joann

[Guest]

I don't understand how it could be that cheap. My neck surgery where they simply replaced a disk with plastic and fused the vert was around $50K, no stay!!

That just seems so low... wow...

[Carolyn Marie]

Yes, the cash cost seems to be in the $20-25,000 range here in the US of A. Cheaper in Thailand even if you factor in travel costs.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest]

Latest price quote from Dr. Brassard in Montrèal is $20,000.

Considering the current ±30% US exchange rate.

Individuals earning us dollars may find this palatable.

Huggs,

Joann

[Guest LizMarie]

I don't understand how it could be that cheap. My neck surgery where they simply replaced a disk with plastic and fused the vert was around $50K, no stay!!

That just seems so low... wow...

Fiona, without editorializing too much, you are seeing the impact of for-profit insurance on health care. I think it was Dr. Bowers who I once read that she quotes insurance companies almost $100K. Why? Because when they get done with their "cuts", "forced negotiations", etc., she's usually lucky if she gets her normal $25K fee. And the insurer will still tell you that they paid "$100K" in your name. It's all lies and subterfuge. They play this game so they can report these quoted prices to Medicare, and force Medicare to raise payment schedules (most of which don't get back to doctors anyway).

Without insurance, prices are much lower. There is a "cash only" surgical center in Oklahoma and their prices are between 20% and 30% of most quoted hospital prices. There are other cash only medical service providers as well and consistently cash prices are a fifth to a third of what insured prices are.

The US suffers from this because the for-profit health insurance industry is essentially a scam. No other first world nation does this to its citizens. And for all this trouble and profiteering at the expense of people's health, the US health care system now ranks below every single OECD nation and below several "second world" nations as well.

And to answer the original poster's question, I was quoted a price of 330,000 Thai Bhat for gender reassignment surgery in July with Dr. Chettawut, in Bangkok, Thailand. At current exchange rates, that works out to $10132.03 today, April 9th, 2015. Even paying airfare for someone to travel with me to help me, food and lodging for 30 days stay and all other incidentals, my total GCS cost comes in under $14,000. My actual price is slightly higher (about $3400 higher), because I am having an additional procedure done at the same time, not related to my GRS.

[Guest]

I don't understand how it could be that cheap. My neck surgery where they simply replaced a disk with plastic and fused the vert was around $50K, no stay!!

That just seems so low... wow...

Fiona, without editorializing too much, you are seeing the impact of for-profit insurance on health care. I think it was Dr. Bowers who I once read that she quotes insurance companies almost $100K. Why? Because when they get done with their "cuts", "forced negotiations", etc., she's usually lucky if she gets her normal $25K fee. And the insurer will still tell you that they paid "$100K" in your name. It's all lies and subterfuge. They play this game so they can report these quoted prices to Medicare, and force Medicare to raise payment schedules (most of which don't get back to doctors anyway).

Without insurance, prices are much lower. There is a "cash only" surgical center in Oklahoma and their prices are between 20% and 30% of most quoted hospital prices. There are other cash only medical service providers as well and consistently cash prices are a fifth to a third of what insured prices are.

The US suffers from this because the for-profit health insurance industry is essentially a scam. No other first world nation does this to its citizens. And for all this trouble and profiteering at the expense of people's health, the US health care system now ranks below every single OECD nation and below several "second world" nations as well.

And to answer the original poster's question, I was quoted a price of 330,000 Thai Bhat for gender reassignment surgery in July with Dr. Chettawut, in Bangkok, Thailand. At current exchange rates, that works out to $10132.03 today, April 9th, 2015. Even paying airfare for someone to travel with me to help me, food and lodging for 30 days stay and all other incidentals, my total GCS cost comes in under $14,000. My actual price is slightly higher (about $3400 higher), because I am having an additional procedure done at the same time, not related to my GRS.

Yeah, I kinda get that. I know that my statements show what the hospital charged and what the HMO coverage actually paid. I do recall years ago my wife and her brother had the same procedure (ingrown toenail removal) by the same doctor. I had a PPO and her brother didn't have insurance. The insured charge was over $500 and the uninsured was $180. By the time all was said and done, I paid almost the same amount my brother in law paid and that thief got the insurance payment as well.

As cheap as insurance companies are I cannot BELIEVE they allow this crap to happen. And don't get me started on our oppressive government doing nothing about it due to lobbying.... I'll stop before I really get going.

Thanx, Hun......

-Fiona

[Guest LizMarie]

Let me make a note here for you, Fiona. Prior to the Reagan administration, many health insurance plans did cover GRS. During the Reagan administration a very small clique of TERFs managed to get the attention of and convince the Reagan White House that trans surgeries were a horrible and bad thing. That was a few small loud and very radical extremist anti-trans activists. And the damage they did has taken over 30 years to unravel and is still being unraveled. At least Department of HHS and Medicare now do not expressly forbid GRS. And slowly some insurers are picking it back up again, under public pressure, certain states requiring it, and public demand.

People try to dismiss small groups of fanatics. That's dangerous and short sighted precisely because of what happened to GRS availability back during the Reagan administration. If someone in the trans community says we should not worry about some small group of extremists, remind them that this is the sort of thing that can happen when small groups of extremists get political power over an oppressed group of human beings.

This will get fixed, but in the end it will probably represent a 40 year gap in insurance coverage of GRS, and who knows how many lives that were taken in despair at being unable to get GRS. That ruling killed people. That's what a small group of extremist bigots can do. We should all remember that lesson.

[Guest]

Liz, becuase of the life I've lived, I'm well aware that small groups can wreak havoc and that rampant apathy is just as big a problem.

The apathy that I witness everyday, not just about LGBT issues, makes me sad for our country, as well as the world. And frankly, I have little faith in 'mankind'....

-Fiona

[VickySGV]

In 2013, Marci Bowers' price had three components that totaled $23,500 for me out of pocket.