How to Pay for Top Surgery: Grants and Insurance Help

Updated October 2026.

Chest Surgery Grants

More and more, insurance companies are covering the cost of transition-related surgeries. However, all the crowdfunding campaigns and personal fundraisers out there tell a different story. For a lot of us, getting insurance to pay for top surgery is still a far-off fantasy.

What if your insurance company doesn't cover transgender-related care? What if you don't have insurance at all? Or what if your insurance company only pays for a surgeon "in network" and you aren't confident with the results of any surgeons in your area?

If you're in any of these boats, this list is for you. A lot has changed since we first wrote it in 2019. Some funds have closed or merged, so we've trimmed this down to the help we could confirm is still running.

Start with your insurance

Coverage for top surgery depends on your plan and your state. Rules for marketplace plans and Medicaid have been changing, in the courts and state by state, so anything we list here could be out of date by next month. Check a live source instead:

Then call your insurer and ask what they need for top surgery to be covered. Your surgeon's office can usually help with that, and can tell you if they offer payment plans.

Point of Pride Annual Trans Surgery Fund

Point of Pride is a nonprofit co-founded by Jeff Main and trans activist and speaker Aydian Dowling. In addition to an awesome binder donation program, they run an annual surgery fund that chooses recipients each year. In 2025, the Jim Collins Foundation (which used to be on this list) merged into Point of Pride and put its funds toward Point of Pride's surgery grants. So if you were looking for Jim Collins, this is where to go now.

The last cycle funded 28 people, with $885,850 awarded in total.

Rules of Eligibility:

  • You identify as transgender (FTM, MTF, non-binary, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and all other non-cis identities).
  • You're 18 or older at the time of your surgery.
  • You have financial need that keeps you from affording surgery.
  • You can show past attempts at paying for it, like saving, fundraising, or trying to get insurance to cover it.
  • You live in the US or its territories.
  • You have your surgery in the US with a US-based surgeon, on or after March 1 of the year after you apply.
  • If you're chosen, you have 18 months to schedule your surgery date. Funds normally go straight to your surgeon, not to you.

When: Applications open November 1 and close November 30 at 11:59 pm EST. Applicants hear back by late February or early March. Point of Pride also runs optional "Before You Apply" info sessions, with a recorded one on YouTube.

Where To Apply: All applications are online. Read their FAQ and instruction packet first: https://www.pointofpride.org/annual-transgender-surgery-fund

Local help

Some smaller groups fund surgery in one state or region. For example, the Kentucky Health Justice Network has a surgical grant for trans Kentuckians. If you're in the South, the Campaign for Southern Equality keeps an updated list of funding, insurance help, and travel support in their Trans in the South funding guide. It's worth checking your local LGBTQ+ center too.

What happened to the rest of the list?

Our 2019 list also had FLAVNT, CK Life, the Rizi Xavier Timane Surgery Grant, and Genderbands. We took them off because we couldn't confirm a surgery grant from any of them that's open now. Genderbands has shared that it's handing its programs over to local organizations. If one of these brings a grant back, we'll add it again.

However you pay for it, talk to your surgeon and your insurer early. They can tell you what you'll need and what it'll really cost.

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