Ryan Scout_FTM

Ryan Sallans, activist and author, transitioned from female to male in 2005 and has recounted his life experiences in his newly released memoir, Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Love and Life.

Since he began he has been committed to education surrounding medical, legal and social issues related to the transgender community. This blog serves as a guide and resource for individuals seeking guidance in the transgender community or for friends, family, lovers and partners who are eager to learn more about how a transition may impact the individual's life and those around them.


He has maintained a transition website since 2005 with the goal of helping others through his story and experiences. People can visit his site at: http://www.ryansallans.com
http://www.secondsonmemoir.com
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Asker Anonymous Asks:
I know I won't be able to afford top surgery before I go to college unless I take out a loan. This isn't something I want to do at all because my parents and I are facing the huge financial burden of paying for a university in the fall. I just don't know what to do because not having surgery is driving me deeper and deeper into depression and a place where I have zero self-confidence. The feeling of a binder makes my dysphoria ten times worse. I'm so stuck, what should I do?
ryansallans ryansallans Said:

My heart goes out to you and everyone else trying to find ways to get their surgeries covered. I would first recommend looking at your insurance policy (if you have insurance coverage) and seeing if in the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) they have anything that specifically “excludes” transgender surgeries. If you do not see anything listed, then I would recommend trying to get your surgery covered by insurance. The doctor may have to provide a letter when submitting it that states medical necessity, which can be backed up by the AMA (American Medical Association) Resolution 122 and the ruling from the IRS Tax Court on Feb 2, 2010 stating that surgeries can be medically deducted on individual tax returns. 

If your insurance policy DOES exclude “sex-change surgeries” (I put this in “” because that may be the language used by a policy). Then the next step would be to see if the surgeon you are wanting to go to accepts credit care. Going into debt is a very scary thing, I completely understand this…I paid for everything except the total cost of my hysto out-of-pocket and worked three jobs (details of this are covered in my book to be released April 2 titled Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Love and Life). 

The deciding factors for me about whether I should go into more debt or not was the amount of dysphoria that I was experiencing. I was fortunate enough to get approved for the loans that I needed for all of my surgeries and so I took the risk and I’ve never regretted it. For me, I knew that I had my whole life to pay off debt but who knows how long I would have on this planet to live in a body that better represents me. 

When looking at student loans, one of the positive things about these loans is that any interests you pay when you begin paying them off is deductible on taxes. One can also continue to look for scholarships or other ways to reduce student loan debt. Another positive with surgeries is that they CAN be included on taxes which will give you some of the money back now. 

I hope that this helps.

Ryan 

http://www.ryansallans.com

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