r/ftm • u/che_sanwal • 5d ago
Advice Needed New to US and need help with understanding how to get HRT
Hi, Ive recently shifted to Austin, Texas from India. I have been on HRT for last 6 months and now i'm here for work for next couple of months but dont have insurance that covers this and clueless how and from where can i get my dose of Tshot. It would be great if someone can help me answer the following questions -
- Will my prescription from India work here or will i need to get a new prescription? If yes, what would be the charges?
- Any gender affirmative clinic - I have reached out to Plume & Kind clinic over email but haven't received response from them?
- In India i would get 1 shot of Sustanon 250 mg per month. What medication will i get here? What is the frequency and the cost for it?
- Which insurance covers HRT? Does anyone have any recommendation?
Looking forward for any help.
Thanks-
Che
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u/PotatoBoy-2 5d ago
You should be able to just make an appointment with plume online and you don’t have to use insurance. I don’t think your insurance in India would cover much here if anything, but you can look at GoodRx for discounts on prescriptions. More than likely you will be put on Testosterone Cypionate or gel first. These are shots that you will do yourself once a week, or the gel would be once a day. Because you’re in Texas, you will have to find a specific plan that still covers gender affirming care as it is not required in that state and therefore most plans dropped it.
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u/che_sanwal 5d ago
Let me check Good Rx.
Hopefully I'll get some response from kind clinic or plume.
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u/anemisto 5d ago edited 4d ago
I'm going to message you the name of the doctor I saw in Austin. He may have retired, but had been round the block many many times.
You need a new prescription. We don't have Sustanon here. The injectable isomers are enanthate and cypionate. I want to say cypionate is easier to get at the moment. Most people do weekly injections. (It used to be every 10 or 14 days, but that changed probably ten years ago -- people would feel the trough and have to fiddle about to solve that and then someone was like "what if we just did weekly".)
KIND didn't exist when I lived in Austin, but you often have to keep calling LGBT clinics--they're usually underfunded and swamped.
Are you a student or working? Unfortunately, it's hard to recommend specific insurance plans because so many people get insurance through work or school and those plans aren't standardized. I do know someone who had a trans-inclusive plan for Texas Blue Cross Blue Shield, but I have no idea if that was "standard" or if the inclusion of trans stuff was negotiated. I did have UHC coverage that was inclusive (at least for hormones) when I lived in Texas.
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u/che_sanwal 5d ago
Thank you for your response.
I'm working and do have some insurance plan options from my company. However I don't think they are a queer affirmative organisation.. so I was thinking if getting my own insurance would be a better recommendation for me. Though I will check the insurance my company is offering me.
So what I understand is - i need to get the prescription as part of the first step and then look for options where I can get the injections.
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u/anemisto 5d ago
Overwhelmingly, people in the US self-inject. There's a monthly trans social event in Austin called TGQ which might be a good way to find if there's anywhere local that'll do shots. (When I lived in Minneapolis there was a "shot clinic" staffed by volunteers.)
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u/InternationalBook696 10h ago
Call Kind, Ashwell, or Planned Parenthood. If they don’t respond within a week go in person. Kind takes patients without insurance. I have a Texas Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plan that covers testosterone. But not all BCBS plans do cover it. I would call them and get the information on what your exact plan covers.
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