HOW TO FIND AFFORDABLE, FDA-APPROVED HRT WITHOUT INSURANCE

Health insurance: what a scam, right?! You pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars a month (A MONTH!!!!) and still you don’t know if you’re going to get a bill for treatment. (At least in the U.S..) What the actual fuck is this system?

When it comes to prescriptions, the same applies. Off you go to the doctor for your peri symptoms, only to later find that your insurance doesn’t cover HRT. It’s insane. You might as well not even have insurance. 

Then some have no insurance at all. The ones who have carefully to factor in the cost of the initial doctor’s visit alone, followed by the ludicrous cost of the medication after the visit. 

Fear not. There are ways to find affordable HRT without insurance. 

Both GoodRx and Cost Plus Pharmacy provide access to affordable medications. Amazon Pharmacy is another route for the uninsured to get HRT, although its prices fluctuate as wildly as your hormones and there's no guarantee you will pay the same from month to month. GoodRx is a little more stable on the pricing front.

It’s all very complicated. Amazon is currently cheaper than GoodRx when it comes to progesterone, but far more expensive when it comes to estradiol patches, for example. So, the best thing you can do is check GoodRx, CostPlus Drugs, and Amazon for their pricing and then let your doctor know where you would like your prescription sent. 

The delivery methods of the drugs can impact their cost as well. If you are prescribed estradiol gel and see that it is far more expensive than estradiol patches, you can let your doctor know and they can tell you if a patch could work for you, instead. As for local estrogen, cream is more affordable than suppositories. It's worth asking your doctor what the options are for each treatment and researching the cost yourself in the GoodRx app, Amazon Pharmacy or Cost Plus Pharmacy. At the time of writing, Cost Plus was the most affordable for local estrogen.

When it comes to testosterone, there is currently no FDA-approved version for women, so even conventional doctors may prescribe a compound version. Compound medications are not FDA-approved and are formulated at compound pharmacies, which means that they are not monitored for purity and dosage. So, what is the alternative?

You can ask your doctor about prescribing Testim, an FDA-approved testosterone gel. The dose for women is often around one-tenth of the dose required for men, so a 30-day supply for men will last an entire year for a woman. This means you can access testosterone for around $80 for the entire year, even without insurance.

It’s all a confusing mindfuck, but one thing is clear: Peri treatment should be accessible and available to all, no matter your insured status. 

The Perisphere is not medical advice. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health provider.