Many have labeled 2015 as the year “that transgender issues became mainstream”. However, a recent article published by CNN shed light on an under-looked barrier: the cost of being transgendered.
Nicholas Ballou binds his chest each day before leaving his home. Ballou, 23, a transgender male, cannot afford top surgery, CNN reports.
Surgery, Money Money
Statistics show that it can cost more than $100,000 for a transgender person to transition, which means that very few can afford Caitlyn Jenner’s transformation from male to female. Many transgender people transition without surgery, citing the prohibitive cost of the procedures and the challenge of finding a health insurance that will cover the surgery as the main reasons. Now, could crowdfunding be a game-changer?
Crowdfunding: Because Not Everyone Can Afford Surgery
Ari Klamka, 28, is one young mind exploiting the power of online communities. Klamka is transgender and has created a GoFundMe page to cover the cost of fully transitioning.
“I began my transition about two years ago when I came out to close friends as transgender,” Klamka writes. “Shortly after I began my physical transformation by starting testosterone injections. I’ve legally changed my name and gone though countless physical and social changes over the past two years. Though the next step I will be taking is the biggest and most important to me.”
He plans to have chest reconstructive “top” surgery, but this is not the only thing he has to pay for. “There are many expenses related to surgery that my insurance is not covering, including extensive unpaid time off of work for recovery after surgery,” Klamka explains.
Such fundraising campaigns are increasingly popular. You can even find a comprehensive guide to surgery fundraising for trans guys online.
The Power of Fundraising
Beauty line Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics has also released a limited-edition Lip Tar, with the sole purpose of raising funds to help one of its long-time employees to complete her gender transition surgery.
January Hunt, was assigned male at birth, but identifies as female. In 2010, she decided to begin her transition. “Without the language or the backbone of a community to support me,” she writes on her fundraising page, “it was easy to be led astray by the narrow two-gender system presented by society. I decided the only way to move forward with my life was to stop ignoring the elephant in every space I set foot in, and begin my transition rites.”
Unfortunately, three years after she started hormone replacement therapy, Hunt has come to a halting stop due to health insurance.
The Health Insurance Dilemma for Transgender People
“The medical industry/industrial complex has effectively kept transgender people from accessing their bodies for many years, partially through bureaucratic procedural hurdles, and partly through general ignorance of trans experiences,” she explains. “Because of that, the medical industry insists on labeling gender confirming/affirming surgeries as cosmetic rather than medically necessary.” According to the Encyclopedia of Surgery, there are between 100 and 500 genital surgeries every year in the United States as part of gender transition.
What do you think of crowdfunding campaigns helping transgender people pay for their surgery? Share your views in the comments section below.
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Transgender People Turn to Crowdfunding to Pay For Surgery
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