For those with enough patience (and perhaps few alternatives) English trans people can get help from the National Health Service over here with SOME psychological assessments, SOME medication, SOME hair removal and SOME surgery. And if you are (as I am) over 60, none of this costs anything beyond the National Insurance contributions that all working-age folk in the UK are liable to pay. But once beyond what the state regards as working age, those contributions stop too.
But how does the care available from the NHS compare with the alternatives? Well, if you’re old enough to get the NHS care for free, you might wish that more was available. It’s better than nothing, but money talks. If you feel you need FFS, and if you’re not offered breast augmentation (by no means everybody is), OR sufficient hair removal by laser treatment or electrolysis, OR if you desire speech therapy beyond what’s offered, well, it’s all available privately, at a price. I can’t illustrate many of the limitations, but I know people who spend thousands on hair removal; way beyond what you might be offered by an NHS Gender Identity Clinic (around £1500 or £1600). In short, things in the UK may be somewhat better for poorer trans people, but top-drawer results are probably just as costly here, and just as inaccessible to poorer people. And being one such myself, I feel much as Grace might. We simply have to make the best of whatever comes our way. We can’t all aspire to everything that money can buy, and that’s as true in the UK as in the USA. And how does that impact those who can’t hope to pass especially easily without substantial medical support? At a guess, we’ll enjoy something that wealthier folk may not acquire; whatever satisfaction you can take from knowing you’ve done the best you can for yourself, with whatever’s to hand. That may not look as wonderful, but looks aren’t everything, are they?
Though at times, we might disagree with that!
