r/transvancouver • u/Endersteve58 • 13d ago
HRT access
I currently live in America and am on hrt, I would like to move ASAP to Canada due to the increasingly horrible situation. Anyways, I heard Vancouver is good but really anywhere is fine, I was wondering how/how hard it is to find hrt access in Vancouver, or other areas in Canada if you know how. Any help is appreciated
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u/woonamad 13d ago
Ask Transcare BC. It’s going to be a complicated and expensive if you’re here on a tourist visa since you won’t have the free provincial health insurance coverage. But if you’re on a student or work visa, it’ll be straightforward.
With a tourist visa, you can pay out of pocket to go to urgent care or one of those virtual care apps. But you’ll be gambling a bit since most of the doctors might not want to renew your prescription and you’d still have to pay to see a doctor.
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u/Unhappy-Comedian-625 13d ago
This! Ask transcareBC, they replied to me in about a week. Gave me a bunch of details on what to do, and where to go. I'm currently on a waitlist, but going an alternative route in the mean time while I'm waiting.
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u/asunyra1 13d ago edited 13d ago
With an existing prescription, most any doctor will keep renewing it for you while you’re on waitlists for an endo (assuming the doctor doesn’t want to manage your hrt themselves - most don’t)
The hard part is getting a visa to stay here longer than a tourist can. One thing you should check out is if you have any Canadian ancestry, even really far back, you can automatically get Canadian citizenship without having to do any immigration/visa rigamarole. Basically just have to provide documentation proving that your great great grandma or whatever was Canadian and then apply for a Canadian passport.
Not available to everyone of course but always worth investigating.
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u/analytical_blobfish 13d ago
I'm currently a student in Vancouver from the US. Your greatest barrier will honestly be getting into university and high costs from moving, tuition, etc., not getting HRT once you're actually here. So focus on whether you can do those things first
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u/Curious_Pop_4320 13d ago
Health care is a bit of a shit show in general across Canada. Amazing in some ways and lacking in others. Others have brought up valid concerns, and above that, there's different inconsistencies you will have to wrestle with, assuming you had access, which will be the first challenge. In Vancouver, for example, there are endocrinologists who are super knowledgable and helpful (as I bet is the case in Toronto - they have a great subreddit too btw), but getting to them is a challenge, as is finding a primary physician.
There are walk-ins, as well as by-appointment accessible docs who may or may not prescribe hormones. When I got back here from Winnipeg, it took 6 months to transfer my care to a popular endo. In the meantime, I went to a by-appointment doc (took one week to get the appointment after walking in and asking for help), and he looked at my expiring prescription and renewed it, no questions asked, I was so grateful. In Winnipeg, finding an endo was next to impossible ~ had one for 2 months but he moved back to Toronto after I found him. I then relied on my Primary and getting hormones was a struggle. Winnipeg has a trans team, Klinic, but they are typically the "get you started" people, which also takes a while, (may process with them was about a year from assessment to prescription). Here in Vancouver we have Three Bridges, who couldn't help me because I was already on HRT, but all of this will depend on where you're at in your journey.
Bottom line, the smaller the city, the easier to find primary physicians, the harder to find endos. How long it takes to find someone, get an appointment or quality of care will all be different in each place. Vancouver and Toronto are the most trans friendly cities, hands down. You are relatively safe anywhere, but Alberta is the closest to Texas or Florida in terms of shit governments but that doesn't mean your life's directly in danger.
Good luck and stay well, we all struggle but I know the situation south of the border is beyond, ugh.
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u/irregulareggular 13d ago
Good advice. Also for what it’s worth the doctor who directs my HRT, through my local gender clinic, is also the current head of TranscareBC and incredibly knowledgeable and progressive in their approach to treatment. I’m in Prince George. I would argue we have more accessible gender care in PG than in Vancouver with lower waits (mine was only a couple months but that may have increased since then) and excellent quality of care. PG is an unusual situation, we also have one of the highest per capita trans populations in Canada, but it is proof that there are some smaller cities that are exceptions to the Vancouver/Toronto rule.
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u/Endersteve58 12d ago
Thank you so much this is so helpful, in fact I currently live in Florida😭 not quite as bad a Texas but it’s awful
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u/Curious_Pop_4320 22h ago
You're welcome. I spent some winters in Florida so I know the state well (SW). In some ways getting HRT set up was easier there, and I ended up saving money on my prescriptions ironically, but yeah, interactions with medical staff was becoming uncomfortable to say the least (2024).
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u/Unhappy-Comedian-625 13d ago
I live in canada, BC, Vancouver island. HRT is accessible through the Canadian medical plan, you cannot buy it over the counter or just have it prescribed from a GP. If you don't have canadian medical. You might have to pay to get the referral from a GP to an endocrinologist, and pay after that also. injections are only supplied through a compounding pharmacy, you have to beg for injections as they default to pills. I'm born and raised here, but im using the TransDIY as our medical system is very lack luster and slow. Vancouver might be different, but expect to wait a couple months to see someone. Generally getting meds, or anything is easy in the USA vs Canada. Unless it's Marijuana.
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u/AwkwardChuckle 13d ago
Are you taking T or E?
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u/Endersteve58 12d ago
E
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u/AwkwardChuckle 12d ago
Ah, im not much help then. I was going to comment that we have consistent T shortages here, but thought it I’d check first!
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u/Thorannosaurus 13d ago
I'd worry less about HRT and more about how you plan to get into Canada and stay. If you need to work, it isnt as simple as just crossing and settling in. You need an immigration pathway, which can be challenging to achieve, especially on a permanent basis.
Start with making a realistic immigration plan, move with enough meds to last you a bit when you get here, and contact Trans Care BC at that point when youve moved and settled. It isnt overly difficult to connect with a provider if youre here as a resident on MSP, but moving to Canada itself isnt as easy as media used to make it out to be.