“I didn’t know if I wanted to go to a doctor or back to Planned Parenthood, where I’ve had only okay experiences,” he says.
Peace is a trans man who was looking for HRT resources when he came across Folx. “I’ve never felt so understood,” Ray Peace, a 28-year-old freelancer in Sarasota tells me. Though Folx just launched, it’s a breath of fresh air for its pioneering users. “We are trying to change the power structure,” Breitenstein says, “At Folx, we want people to know that they can be and do what they want and we’re not trying to put them in another box.” Breitenstein says that she wants medical care to be caring and even fun for trans people. The reality is that a staggering percentage of TGNC people (and to be fair, Americans in general) don’t have insurance and even if they do, some of these services aren’t covered and they end up paying out-of-pocket anyways.įolx is giving more TGNC people access to services they already need, but it’s also offering them in a totally new way.
Folx starts at $59 per month and goes up from there, depending on the type of medications and therapy obtained.Īlso, Folx operates outside of your insurance, if you have it. Members receive tailored services that include gender-affirming hormone therapy (HRT) erectile dysfunction (ED) PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV) and STI testing. Here’s how it works: Folx is a membership-based digital healthcare platform. “There is a lack of basic literacy about what people need.” That’s where Folx is stepping in.
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“The medical mainstream does not know how to care for this community,” she says.
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“Gender identity disorder” was considered a mental illness diagnosis until 2013, and “ transexualism” wasn’t removed from the World Health Organization’s disease manual until 2018.īreitenstein wanted to change the dehumanizing experience that trans people have in medical settings, and she also wanted to give TGNC people access to medical care that actually understands our needs. “Trans people are treated as pathologies in medical settings,” Breitenstein tells me. Breitenstein, founder of the new queer and trans healthcare provider Folx, saw the need for a revolutionary new approach and stepped up. Many young trans people have also had to resort to risky ways of accessing “grey market” hormones.Īlso, imagine that you are sick with, say, COVID-19 and you are more scared of what may happen if you seek treatment than you are of the disease. A new company, Folx, is revolutionizing healthcare for queer and transgender people - and maybe everyone else too.Īccording to recent surveys done by the National Center for Transgender Equality, a third of trans people said that they had had a negative experience when they went to the doctor and almost a quarter of trans people didn’t go to the doctor when they needed to because they feared discrimination and violence.
But many of the hurdles queer, transgender, and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people face are based in structural bias and discrimination about who they are. Some of these challenges are rooted in mainstream medical ignorance of some of the unique kinds of care that trans people need, such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). face extraordinary healthcare challenges. Other areas: pregnancy options counseling (abortion, prenatal, adoption) fertility / infertility consult parental supportQueer and transgender people in the U.S.
If you are ready to start HRT, visit our Testosterone or Estrogen pages to learn more about our offerings. Hormones: consultation and education on HRT, low T (for cisgender bodies), and menopause referrals and support (pre, during, and post) for transition-related surgeries. General health: seasonal allergies, smoking cessation (possible Rx), headache, insomnia, PCOS (possible Rx), abdominal pain consult, nutrition consult, wellness consult and educationīehavioral health: acute anxieties, like performance anxiety and flight anxiety consults, referrals, and one-time refills for existing anxiety and depression medications Sexual health: sexual dysfunction (possible Rx) erectile dysfunction birth control STI prevention and counseling dysmenorrhea counseling and referral Infections: mpox consult, education, and referral chronic vaginitis rx for yeast infection and BV (bacterial vaginosis) counseling on normal vaginal discharge, abnormal discharge, and causes UTI Hair & skin: acne, hair loss, eczema, rashes, etc. Refills: existing medications (cholesterol, blood pressure, birth control, herpes, etc.)
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