Lissa's Surgical Fund
Donation protected
Fifteen years. It's been 15 years since I officially started my journey (and nearly 30 since I figured out that it was a journey I needed to take). And the next step requires a bit of surgery. Okay, well— it's a lot of surgery.
There are only a few doctors on the continent trained to perform Genital Reconstruction Surgery, and it's a crap shoot which one your insurance might cover—if at all. When I got word that Washington state would require transgender healthcare coverage starting in 2015, I pursued this new opportunity as quickly as possible. Our insurance at the time covered surgery with Dr. Marcie Bowers in San Francisco, and I set up my surgery and had myself placed on the two-year waiting list. I sent my info in on January 1st, 2015, the first day our insurance company began officially covering transgender healthcare. Three months later I had a date: March 28, 2017. That was a long time to wait, but because of the ACA and Obama's rulings on transgender healthcare, lots of other people were finally able to get desperately needed healthcare that has been been consistently denied since President Regan ruled transgender health needs “experimental” in the early 1980s.
In November of 2015, my employer switched insurance providers. My heart stopped. Here again, the chance to make this important corrective step was being pulled away. A few calls and lots of research, I found that our new insurance provider covered Genital Reconstruction Surgery with Dr. Toby Meltzer—an excellent surgeon, but who told me at that point that his waiting list was 3 years long by that point. My options were either to switch to Dr. Meltzer and hope our insurance provider didn’t change again before 2019, or remain with my first choice: Dr. Bowers.
Staying with Dr. Bowers is the safest option, but it put me in the situation where of now needing to pay Out of Network costs which I'm responsible for at least 40% of this $27,000 medical procedure. That will be about $11,000 including deductible. Add in travel expenses, medications, and post-surgical care, we're looking at an expensive year. My wife has some freelance work lined up that may help us, but that's not going to be enough on its own.
So, I'm asking my friends and friends of friends: if you can help out it would be deeply appreciated. All the money will go to surgery bills first and then to help defray travel expenses for the two weeks we need to be in San Francisco. Any unused money will be donated forward to the next person who needs it.
Thank you, so much.
There are only a few doctors on the continent trained to perform Genital Reconstruction Surgery, and it's a crap shoot which one your insurance might cover—if at all. When I got word that Washington state would require transgender healthcare coverage starting in 2015, I pursued this new opportunity as quickly as possible. Our insurance at the time covered surgery with Dr. Marcie Bowers in San Francisco, and I set up my surgery and had myself placed on the two-year waiting list. I sent my info in on January 1st, 2015, the first day our insurance company began officially covering transgender healthcare. Three months later I had a date: March 28, 2017. That was a long time to wait, but because of the ACA and Obama's rulings on transgender healthcare, lots of other people were finally able to get desperately needed healthcare that has been been consistently denied since President Regan ruled transgender health needs “experimental” in the early 1980s.
In November of 2015, my employer switched insurance providers. My heart stopped. Here again, the chance to make this important corrective step was being pulled away. A few calls and lots of research, I found that our new insurance provider covered Genital Reconstruction Surgery with Dr. Toby Meltzer—an excellent surgeon, but who told me at that point that his waiting list was 3 years long by that point. My options were either to switch to Dr. Meltzer and hope our insurance provider didn’t change again before 2019, or remain with my first choice: Dr. Bowers.
Staying with Dr. Bowers is the safest option, but it put me in the situation where of now needing to pay Out of Network costs which I'm responsible for at least 40% of this $27,000 medical procedure. That will be about $11,000 including deductible. Add in travel expenses, medications, and post-surgical care, we're looking at an expensive year. My wife has some freelance work lined up that may help us, but that's not going to be enough on its own.
So, I'm asking my friends and friends of friends: if you can help out it would be deeply appreciated. All the money will go to surgery bills first and then to help defray travel expenses for the two weeks we need to be in San Francisco. Any unused money will be donated forward to the next person who needs it.
Thank you, so much.
Organizer
Lissa Guillet
Organizer
Duvall, WA
