I believe the tweet is referring to a specific type of online marxist who are transphobic.

Let me know if I should edit the title.

  • tisamantis@lemmygrad.ml
    11·
    2 years ago

    I actually have a weird question (not trans myself). Isn’t estrogen stupidly overpriced?

    The “cheapest” form of estrogen available from a pharmacy here is a can of transdermal gel containing about 0.048g of estradiol. One can could last a month or half depending on dosage and application area. It’s sold for about 10-20 USD (varies by USD exchange rate, but isn’t cheap at all), and about 20 cans can be produced from 1g of estradiol. (I assume).

    Some Chinese suppliers seem to sell Estradiol powder at rate of ~1-3USD/gram. (image attached, no sure how trustworthy it is. some ppl on r/estrogel say they get their powder from that site)

    I know the process of making that gel needs more ingredients and involves many steps, including quality controls, but isn’t pharma’s profit margin rly high here?

    Not endorsing DIY solutions at all, but even with absorption issues (patented components improve it) they seem to be much more accessible, particularly to people in poor regions of the world.

    Here’s a wiki entry from a DIY community I mentioned before, it explains my concerns better than I do. https://www.reddit.com/r/estrogel/wiki/index/

    Screenshot from Chinese supplier shop (made-in-china)

    • TheConquestOfBed@lemmy.ml
      13·
      2 years ago

      It seems to greatly depend on the country and your insurance and whether you’re doing a scrip or diy.

      https://teddit.net/r/asktransgender/comments/3h6i66/hrt_costs_in_other_countries/

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_universal_health_care

      Some countries with decent trans healthcare laws (Cuba/Argentina/Pakistan) subsidise it to make it completely free or low cost. While places like the US will make it cheaper IF you find a job with good insurance. You won’t find the same price even in two different cities or two different months due to the way insurance and store pricing fluctuate constantly. Without insurance it can be $150+ for a 90 day supply or $60+ for a 30 day supply. With insurance this goes down to $10-25 in both cases.

      • tisamantis@lemmygrad.ml
        11·
        2 years ago

        Most trans subreddits seem to be rly against DIY (for good reasons), and I think since most people there are Westerners they have a different perception of what is expensive and what is not. I also don’t have a reddit account, and maybe I did not expect an answer. (question is mostly rhetorical)

        Thanks for responding regardless. :)