You’re the second person to recommend them, so I’ll definitely consider them if I can’t find a local provider. I was just hoping to find a practitioner who knew the area and would be able to also recommend places for other services I (or my spouse! They’re part of this journey, too) may need down the line.

Heh, I don’t sleep well. Too many worries and mental battles over dysphoria vs. being out. And I feel like I’m still stuck in that rift. The username felt appropriate, since Miranda is on my shortlist for possible names, too!

Alma

I hadn’t looked at that yet. Thank you for pointing it out!

Yes, sort of. In this area it’s Horizon. FEP seems to just be a branch of whatever the regional blue cross and/or blue shield is. I have been using their “Find a Doctor” tool to tell who’s in-network after finding people on the lists like pridecenter.org or outcare or WPATH, but so far nobody’s been covered.

insurance requires a letter from someone actively prescribing and monitoring the progress of HRT for 12 or more months consecutively to cover any of those services

That’s precisely why I wanted to find a doctor do to this with. I’ve already missed too much with the wrong outside.

I’m in NJ, but not the progressive part of it. I guess Philly would be my closest friendly place to find anyone, and I definitely hear you about the “going official” issues in the US right now. It’s one of the reasons I’m so frightened of telling the wrong people.

I don’t know if I like the idea of DIY. I believe that it works, but I also know that I’m clumsy and forgetful enough to do something wrong. I also really need to talk to a therapist because I will definitely want my letters for surgery someday.

Folkx or Galileo

This is the first I’ve seen of either of these, so thank you! I’ll have a look!

This is fantastic advice, and I’m glad to know I’m not alone. It’s honestly been quite difficult and frightening to try navigating this. I also feel like I was putting too much weight on my spouse to help me and that’s not fair to them.

I realize I have to tell my PCP eventually. My last one I’d have told in a heartbeat, but the good ones get promoted out of my area because the backwoods aren’t a priority. The new one is quite clinical and has his degree from a highly conservative/evangelical area and frankly scares me. I’ll be looking anyway, I guess.

My “local” communities are all a little over an hour from me, from what I can tell. I’ll try to find a way to get in touch with some of them in the meantime.

Thank you very much for sharing!

Thank you for the advice! I’m on a weirdly hepful but also restrictive FEP Blue program. They cover basically nobody around me. P.S. I like your username!

Of course there’s a github-awesome list for us. I definitely should have looked for that earlier!

Thank you for the info! I’ve been reading about the need for letters already, and definitely want to see a therapist. The one time I saw one locally for possibly? unrelated issues didn’t go so well (“you shouldn’t schedule further appointments with me”, what?). I’m actually in NJ, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to use your list, but hopefully others who run across this post can!