>At one point, Prestin Bailey felt like he and his Oakland friends were just passing money back and forth. His friend group was “chock-full of trans people,” and the money they raised again and again was for gender-affirming health care. Bailey, a trans man, created his own GoFundMe campaign to support his recovery from top surgery in 2021.
>His experience isn’t unique. GoFundMe crowdfunding is a common way for trans people to access health care. A Chronicle analysis found that as of Aug. 6, there were just under 3,000 GoFundMe campaigns seeking money for gender-affirming medical procedures across the country. To identify these campaigns, the Chronicle searched for all campaigns that contained the keyword “gender affirming.”
>Most gender-affirming GoFundMe campaigns appear to benefit trans people: 66% mention “trans,” “transgender” or “nonbinary,” and more are run by trans people who don’t explicitly identify themselves. But not everyone who seeks gender-affirming care is trans — one recent Harvard University study found a majority of gender-affirming breast reduction surgeries for teenagers were performed on cisgender boys.
>About 360 of the nearly 3,000 campaigns the Chronicle analyzed are in California. Those campaigns are disproportionately concentrated in the Bay Area, where about one-third of California fundraisers say they are located. As of Aug. 6, Oakland and San Francisco are each home to 33 campaigns. Of the top 10 cities where gender-affirming GoFundMe campaigns are located, Oakland has the third most campaigns on a per capita basis, eclipsed only by Portland and Seattle.
>The added expense of traveling to reach a clinic is one reason why some patients turn to GoFundMe to support their care — about 12% of campaigns mention “travel.” But many costs can lead people to rely on crowdfunding.
>Most private insurance plans cover gender-affirming care as long as it is deemed medically necessary. In 26 states, including California, Medicaid explicitly covers gender-affirming care for transgender people. Deutsch confirmed that most of her patients have insurance that covers their care. But she still sees patients who struggle to cover copays and other related costs.
!ping BAY-AREA&LGBT&HEALTH-POLICY
karry9001 on
The fact that they limit the study to campaigns that use the term “gender affirming” seems limiting. It’s a very technical term and I don’t necessarily think a ton of people would use it.
2 Comments
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>At one point, Prestin Bailey felt like he and his Oakland friends were just passing money back and forth. His friend group was “chock-full of trans people,” and the money they raised again and again was for gender-affirming health care. Bailey, a trans man, created his own GoFundMe campaign to support his recovery from top surgery in 2021.
>His experience isn’t unique. GoFundMe crowdfunding is a common way for trans people to access health care. A Chronicle analysis found that as of Aug. 6, there were just under 3,000 GoFundMe campaigns seeking money for gender-affirming medical procedures across the country. To identify these campaigns, the Chronicle searched for all campaigns that contained the keyword “gender affirming.”
>Most gender-affirming GoFundMe campaigns appear to benefit trans people: 66% mention “trans,” “transgender” or “nonbinary,” and more are run by trans people who don’t explicitly identify themselves. But not everyone who seeks gender-affirming care is trans — one recent Harvard University study found a majority of gender-affirming breast reduction surgeries for teenagers were performed on cisgender boys.
>About 360 of the nearly 3,000 campaigns the Chronicle analyzed are in California. Those campaigns are disproportionately concentrated in the Bay Area, where about one-third of California fundraisers say they are located. As of Aug. 6, Oakland and San Francisco are each home to 33 campaigns. Of the top 10 cities where gender-affirming GoFundMe campaigns are located, Oakland has the third most campaigns on a per capita basis, eclipsed only by Portland and Seattle.
>The added expense of traveling to reach a clinic is one reason why some patients turn to GoFundMe to support their care — about 12% of campaigns mention “travel.” But many costs can lead people to rely on crowdfunding.
>Most private insurance plans cover gender-affirming care as long as it is deemed medically necessary. In 26 states, including California, Medicaid explicitly covers gender-affirming care for transgender people. Deutsch confirmed that most of her patients have insurance that covers their care. But she still sees patients who struggle to cover copays and other related costs.
!ping BAY-AREA&LGBT&HEALTH-POLICY
The fact that they limit the study to campaigns that use the term “gender affirming” seems limiting. It’s a very technical term and I don’t necessarily think a ton of people would use it.