Question 1

What does it cost for the HRT visits?

Accepted Answer

There are no "per appointment" fees charged. Read on for how things are done....

-There is a $100 one-time admin fee due at the time you book the first appointment. This is a cost independent of appts themselves (which are covered by the monthly fee mentioned below).

-Once you have booked the first appointment as mentioned above, appointments are covered by a monthly fee: $50 per month for the first 12 months, then $40 per month after that.

*The monthly charges begin on the 3rd of the month following the completion of your first visit. Example: if your first appt is on Feb 6th, then first monthly charge is run on March 3rd. 
The monthly fee covers your appointments with us as well as any other HRT related services we perform for you, like our messaging service and any letter writing for surgeries and gender marker/name changes. It does not cover labs and medications. See that section for details on those.

Question 2

Do you accept health insurance?

Accepted Answer

No. We apologize, but we do not at this time.

Our reasons for this are many, the 4 main justifications are below:  
1) Most health insurance companies right now do not reliably cover gender care services. And the ones that do tend to make it so hard for the patient to qualify for the coverage that ends up being the same as if they didn't cover it anyway. 
2) Insurance companies change covered benefits every single year. So while the services may be covered one year, the next year it may not be covered. This creates absolute chaos and panic when patients depend on their insurance to cover these services, and then lose that coverage. 
3) An interesting (and devious) thing about insurance companies is that they force healthcare providers into contracts that dictate exactly the kind of care they can give if they want to be reimbursed for their work. This results in a kind of "cookie cutter" hormone therapy that focuses on the lowest cost to the insurance company, where the patient's individual needs are not able to be met because of the inflexible contract the insurance company forces the provider to comply with. We would rather continue to provide individualized care the way it is meant to be than be concerned with only selecting the lowest cost hormone options so as to save money for the insurance companies.  
4) Hateful lawmakers can easily outlaw insurance companies from covering gender affirming care. And with the ever-changing political environment right now, this is a distinct possibility.

***Those with insurance coverage may be interested in the service offered by Reimbursify. This business will file a claim with your insurance company for you to see if you can get reimbursed by your insurance for a visit with us. The first claim they file for you is free, and after that it is about $4 per claim. Look them up at https://reimbursify.com/individual-page/ (https://reimbursify.com/individual-page/) Alternatively, you can also file a claim on your own for "out of network" coverage reimbursement directly through your insurance company by asking us to generate the form with the info you will need to do so. 
-This reimbursement for out of network coverage will not work for Medicaid or Medicare, however. It is more geared towards commercial insurance policies.

Question 3

How much do the medications cost?

Accepted Answer

Cost varies if insurance is covering them depending on what your benefit allowances and copays may be.

If paying out-of-pocket, then in general, medications cost between $10-$40/month.
It is hard to put an exact cost on it because each pharmacy is going to have slightly different prices, so sometimes you might want to shop around a bit before settling on one. Another factor is that not every patient will be placed on the same medications and/or doses, and this can also make the prices vary. 
A good resource to investigate the prices of medications with is GoodRx. It is a handy phone app and website that you can use to research medication prices, and it also includes coupons you can use to lower your overall prescription price.

Question 4

How much do labs cost?

Accepted Answer

If using insurance: This amount can vary widely based on what your allowable benefits are and whether you have to pay a copay, meet a deductible, or pay a percentage. Contact your insurance company ahead of time to ask how they cover lab related claims.

If paying out-of-pocket: Depending on type of hormone therapy (T or E) and how long you have been on HRT, the average cost falls somewhere between $50-$100 per lab panel through our lab partners, Quest & Labcorp.

Question 5

How the monthly fee works, and how we chose that amount.

Accepted Answer

The monthly fee is charged every month, independent of when you may have appts. It is meant as a way to spread out what the cost of a stand-alone appt would be if someone saw an specialist and paid them per appt each time they were seen. The average cost for an endocrinology/specialist appt runs around $250-$400 per appt, for reference. So what we do is spread the cost of appts out over the entire year, thus averaging their cost out in monthly payments rather than having folks pay a huge chunk of change each time they have an appt. 
For reference, the total spent per year from $50/month is $600, and the total spent per year from  $40/month is $480. This is still less than the cost of two appts to an endocrinologist. In general, we schedule our appts somewhat more often during the first 12 months of HRT and space them farther apart as time goes on. The monthly payments also include any ancillary services we may provide as well, such as our messaging service and letter writing for surgery or name change/gender marker changes, etc.

Spectrum: The Other Clinic

What Is Your
Body Aesthetic?
Want More Curves?
Or Maybe Less?
Let Us Help!

Only Age 18+

Want to order your own labs? Available to non-patients
-Click Here-

Partnered With:

Spectrum: The Other Clinic

What Is Your Body Aesthetic? Want More Curves? Or Maybe Less? Let Us Help!

***Only Age 18+***

Want to order your own labs? Available to non-patients -Click Here-

Partnered With:

What Is Your
Body Aesthetic?
Want More Curves?
Or Maybe Less?
Let Us Help!

Only Age 18+

Want to order your own labs? Available to non-patients
-Click Here-