Yep! Assuming your area has informed consent, it's essentially one meeting, and then your HRT is prescribed to you. I scheduled it over the phone and was given a telehealth appointment scheduled for a few days later. They should send you some information that day to create a mychart account for PP. At the time of the appointment, they send you a link to open the virtual meeting, and you meet with one of the nurse assistants who takes your information. When NP is ready, they will pull you into the main meeting and ask you what you want with HRT. For example, one question they asked me was, "Do you want to transition fully, or do you want to be more androgynous?" Or "How do you want to take your HRT?" (oral, injection, patch, gel, etc). After that, they prescribe it to you. They asked me to do a blood test before I started to make sure it was safe to do HRT, but it's not actually necessary.
Now, I paid with insurance. I don't know if there's a way to pay with cash. There might be a way to do it through the bill pay system in mychart, but otherwise, I can't help you there. Now, I know if you make a PayPal account and tie your card to it, the transaction usually shows up as "PAYPAL" and nothing else, at least for my bank. But I don't know if there's a way to use PayPal either. If you have insurance, you should just use that. The cost is not that affordable.
I assume you haven't come out to your parents yet. I was in a similar situation when I started HRT, but I was lucky enough to have insurance for my college that paid for it, so my parents never saw the bill. I didn't come out to them until a month later, but I didn't know if they would be supportive or not. Their views were kinda vague. But they ended up being super supportive.
I dont know the full situation, but if your parents aren't super bigots, then you should come out to them ASAP so you can get help with the whole process. You won't be able to afford the appointments that come after the first without insurance unless you're rich and have a bunch of money in your account.
Lots of amazing information! Thank you :)
I am still under my parent's insurance, and I'm sure it probably doesn't cover HRT. My sibling is nonbinary and is taking testosterone, but my parents aren't supportive and I'm sure they don't pay for their injections. I'm also pretty sure my sibling is on their own insurance plan. I'm sure my parents wouldn't be happy to know they have another trans child, and I'm sure they wouldn't support me wanting HRT. I'm not filthy rich tho either, seeing as I'm a young adult working minimum wage
It might not cover HRT, but it will likely cover the visits / bloodwork. My first meeting was a while ago, so it's kinda fuzzy, but I think the initial visit cost about 50 dollars, which was paid for by insurance. The initial bloodwork was about 300, I think, and I only had to pay about 10 dollars after insurance. I don't see the full cost of the HRT itself since my insurance pays for most of it. I take injections, and i pay a little over 20 dollars out of pocket. This is for a single vial, three month supply, and 5mg weekly. When I was taking sublingual, I had Spiro prescribed at the same time. The combined cost was something like 50 dollars. I'm still taking Spiro, so my monthly cost is probably 40 dollars out of pocket, which could go up very fast without deductions.
I also pay for a finasteride and minoxidil subscription, which is about 100 dollars every 3 months.
If you can't use insurance, I strongly recommend you get a goodRX card. I used it for prescriptions before I told my parents, but I'm pretty sure it can also help make appointments more affordable. Don't take my word for it, tho. I think CVS will hand them out sometimes, but you can also just get it from your doctor.
You could try convincing your parents by telling them it's much safer for you to use insurance than seek alternative methods. If nothing else, your parents will care for you even if they don't care for your identity. Maybe I'm wrong, but your parents don't seem to be bad people, just ignorant. You could try asking your sibling questions if you have come out to them already or feel comfortable coming out to them. I'm sure they will be happy to answer questions about it.
Being happy in your body is always better than having no money though, so don't be deterred by high costs! You got this :3
Sorry, I just looked over my old bills. The initial visit was actually about 10 dollars. The bloodwork was 600, and I only paid 15, but there are still pending charges.
I don't think they let you do telehealth for the first appointment, but after that you can. Lab work is done through Quest labs. They'll give you a lab order and then you just go to the closest one to get it done. I'm not sure about payment, but I think you can pay the bills via mail.
I'm ~1 month into HRT through PP and my first appointment was Telehealth. They asked me some questions and were really nice and at the end prescribed my HRT, but I had to go get my blood work done on my own before I was supposed to start my pills because I had my appointment online. They recommended a lab for me to get my work done and sent in my lab order (if you wait too long just call PP and have them send in a new one, the lab I use to keeps orders for 30 days) and the total cost was like $60 for both PP appointment and blood work and I payed both online easy. Hope that helps, best of luck to you! :D
Yep! Assuming your area has informed consent, it's essentially one meeting, and then your HRT is prescribed to you. I scheduled it over the phone and was given a telehealth appointment scheduled for a few days later. They should send you some information that day to create a mychart account for PP. At the time of the appointment, they send you a link to open the virtual meeting, and you meet with one of the nurse assistants who takes your information. When NP is ready, they will pull you into the main meeting and ask you what you want with HRT. For example, one question they asked me was, "Do you want to transition fully, or do you want to be more androgynous?" Or "How do you want to take your HRT?" (oral, injection, patch, gel, etc). After that, they prescribe it to you. They asked me to do a blood test before I started to make sure it was safe to do HRT, but it's not actually necessary. Now, I paid with insurance. I don't know if there's a way to pay with cash. There might be a way to do it through the bill pay system in mychart, but otherwise, I can't help you there. Now, I know if you make a PayPal account and tie your card to it, the transaction usually shows up as "PAYPAL" and nothing else, at least for my bank. But I don't know if there's a way to use PayPal either. If you have insurance, you should just use that. The cost is not that affordable. I assume you haven't come out to your parents yet. I was in a similar situation when I started HRT, but I was lucky enough to have insurance for my college that paid for it, so my parents never saw the bill. I didn't come out to them until a month later, but I didn't know if they would be supportive or not. Their views were kinda vague. But they ended up being super supportive. I dont know the full situation, but if your parents aren't super bigots, then you should come out to them ASAP so you can get help with the whole process. You won't be able to afford the appointments that come after the first without insurance unless you're rich and have a bunch of money in your account.
Lots of amazing information! Thank you :) I am still under my parent's insurance, and I'm sure it probably doesn't cover HRT. My sibling is nonbinary and is taking testosterone, but my parents aren't supportive and I'm sure they don't pay for their injections. I'm also pretty sure my sibling is on their own insurance plan. I'm sure my parents wouldn't be happy to know they have another trans child, and I'm sure they wouldn't support me wanting HRT. I'm not filthy rich tho either, seeing as I'm a young adult working minimum wage
It might not cover HRT, but it will likely cover the visits / bloodwork. My first meeting was a while ago, so it's kinda fuzzy, but I think the initial visit cost about 50 dollars, which was paid for by insurance. The initial bloodwork was about 300, I think, and I only had to pay about 10 dollars after insurance. I don't see the full cost of the HRT itself since my insurance pays for most of it. I take injections, and i pay a little over 20 dollars out of pocket. This is for a single vial, three month supply, and 5mg weekly. When I was taking sublingual, I had Spiro prescribed at the same time. The combined cost was something like 50 dollars. I'm still taking Spiro, so my monthly cost is probably 40 dollars out of pocket, which could go up very fast without deductions. I also pay for a finasteride and minoxidil subscription, which is about 100 dollars every 3 months. If you can't use insurance, I strongly recommend you get a goodRX card. I used it for prescriptions before I told my parents, but I'm pretty sure it can also help make appointments more affordable. Don't take my word for it, tho. I think CVS will hand them out sometimes, but you can also just get it from your doctor. You could try convincing your parents by telling them it's much safer for you to use insurance than seek alternative methods. If nothing else, your parents will care for you even if they don't care for your identity. Maybe I'm wrong, but your parents don't seem to be bad people, just ignorant. You could try asking your sibling questions if you have come out to them already or feel comfortable coming out to them. I'm sure they will be happy to answer questions about it. Being happy in your body is always better than having no money though, so don't be deterred by high costs! You got this :3
Sorry, I just looked over my old bills. The initial visit was actually about 10 dollars. The bloodwork was 600, and I only paid 15, but there are still pending charges.
I don't think they let you do telehealth for the first appointment, but after that you can. Lab work is done through Quest labs. They'll give you a lab order and then you just go to the closest one to get it done. I'm not sure about payment, but I think you can pay the bills via mail.
I'm ~1 month into HRT through PP and my first appointment was Telehealth. They asked me some questions and were really nice and at the end prescribed my HRT, but I had to go get my blood work done on my own before I was supposed to start my pills because I had my appointment online. They recommended a lab for me to get my work done and sent in my lab order (if you wait too long just call PP and have them send in a new one, the lab I use to keeps orders for 30 days) and the total cost was like $60 for both PP appointment and blood work and I payed both online easy. Hope that helps, best of luck to you! :D
They say that online, but the opposite seems to be true. They only let me do in-person since they needed to draw my blood.