duplicate:cost/payment of treatments

joneka

I wondered over from the trying to get pregnant board because I thought you ladies would be more knowledgable of this particular question or have better/different insight

I was wondering for those that have tried iui or any fertility treatment...how did you pay for it? Did you save thousands first or did you save a little for each part of the treatment? Mine and dh insurances do not cover fertility treatments (but are good with pregnancy/delivery)...we have had basic testing done, but the charges we were able to handle such as $100 per blood draw, $300 for a panel or $100 SA, but the next test is $900 for the tube dye test (can't think of the formal name)...and I will again have to have a blood panel done and ultrasound...my gut is telling me to wait a couple of months save up..continue opk's and sex, then have everything done at one time...basic blood work confirmed I do ovulate and SA confirmed dh semen is "excellent", but were still not pregnant!

I have a co-worker that told me it cost them $15,000 for in vitro..although they did concieve and have their bundle of joy

I am 32, dh is 33 we have been married 2 years

Thank you in advance for any information
(I know that cost differ from region to region), but what did you do and how did/are you doing it?

BunnyBerry

Sorry to hear you are having trouble TTC! You mentioned you are "still not pregnant" - have you been trying quite a while (1+ years)? If not, most people would consider it unnecessary to spend serious money yet, as there is a good chance of getting pregnant naturally, especially since you've confirmed ovulation and good sperm.

Although your friends spend $15k on IVF, don't let that scare you - IUI is significantly cheaper. Depending on your doctor's office and the medications they prescribe for you, it could cost anywhere from around $500 to around $3000+, but usually in the $1-2k range from what I gather.

The dye test (hysterosalpingogram or HSG) does sound like the logical next step if and when you choose to move forward, because you'd want to make sure the mechanicals are giving a clear and healthy path between sperm and egg, and that there are no barriers to implantation (rules out things like fibroids, blocked tubes, uterine septum). $900 sounds about right; my itemized bill (luckily insurance picked it up) was around $400 for the hospital and around $300+ for the RE.

Because our insurance has strict limits to how many of anything they cover in a given year (very sneaky!), our first IUI will be cheaper (after deductible), then get more expensive. So we've decided to just use money in the bank (been re-saving as usual after buying a house last year) until the RE and we feel like the cost/benefit chances of IUI are just not worth it compared to IVF, and then move to IVF. So we're just going to watch our bank balance and make sure we could still afford a couple rounds of IVF (not at your friend's rates - things are a little cheaper in our neck of the woods!) and hopefully still pay for diapers if the time came, Lol! I know that some TTTCers have been able to take equity or personal loans, get loans or gifts from family, join scientific studies that cover the costs of experimental treatments, share and receive leftover expensive meds through this board, find manufacturer's coupons online, switch to generics, take a break to save up, and make lifestyle changes to reduce expenses.

Good luck, and I hope you will experience success soon!!

Danielle0311

I am really just getting started with all of this stuff so I don't have the best knowledge for you but my RE did tell me that he wants me to start medicated IUI's next month and that it would run me about 1000-1500 per iui out of pocket. It's definitely much cheaper then ivf which I have not even discussed with my doctor yet.

As for the tube test that is the hsg. I actually have mine today (nervous! Lol) and mine I found out is covered but if it wasn't I was told it would cost about 800-900.

I'm not sure how long you have been trying but if it is under a year my advice would be to wait a little longer because this does get very expensive. Good luck to you and I'm so sorry you are having troubles ttc.

Rachaeleigh

We're currently doing medicated IUIs. Anything diagnostic it's covered for us, just not treatment stuff.
So, each month our baseline ultrasound and blood work are covered and then anything after is not
We got an interest free credit card for our IUIs. We figured that we'd do 3 if needed and then have a year to pay off before moving onto IVF

Sewfie

Our insurance has covered most everything: SA, my b/w, HSG, lap surgery (looks like we're going to owe $100, but the whole thing with dr's pay was $16,000!), and femara. I self-paid for the u/s on Monday. We were going to do an IUI, but decided Monday to go with TI (with femara) this cycle until we find out if MH is a CF carrier too. (I just got my results this past Friday, and I carry a CF gene that is unlikely to cause disease). If he's not a carrier and we don't get pregnant (I just O'd yesterday so FX), we'll move on to IUI next cycle. I'm not sure of the cost yet (I keep avoiding asking because I keep hoping it will happen "naturally"), but we'll pay it up front.

kushie77

My HSG was done by my GYN and I work for the health system so anything not covered by insurance is written off, same for my bloodwork which I had done here, my RE was fine with that.  And thankfully I did as I just got my EOB from the insurance and it was almost $7000 worth of blood work. 

Testing at the RE's office is not covered.  I just shelled out $450 for my saline sonogram, yet H's SA was covered.  Insurance is so strange.  

That being said, since we are now looking at IUI with donor sperm my RE has spoken with my GYN and they feel he can handle it here on his end since everything will be prepped and washed.  We just have to pay for the donor sperm (looking at around $650-800 depending on which cryobank we choose) and then my GYN has graciously offered to waive his IUI fee since I'm an employee of the health system.  

Should we need to proceed to IVF then we will tap our home equity line of credit for that.  

Sha259

I might be in the minority here, but I'm going to suggest that, if you want to get the HSG done, and your doctor is willing to bill it GYN, and your insurance will cover it, I would get it done NOW. 

The reason I say this, is because it will be reassuring if your tubes are clear, but it will be SO informative if there are any issues that may make your time waiting useless. It will show if one or both of your tubes are blocked (which will make getting pg on your own either difficult or impossible). It will also show if you have any uterine fibroids which can cause problems with implantation. 

Fibroids were in my maternal history, but my mom had 4 healthy children so I didnt think anything of it. But come to find out now that mine DID effect my fertility, and that Black women have a higher rate of developing fibroids. I wish someone would have stressed to me the significance of maternal fibroid history and ethnic background. I likely would have gotten myself checked out much sooner, say when we first started trying instead of after a year of failure.

Good luck in whatever decision you choose to make, and I sincerely hope that your insurance will cover more than you currently expect!!

jencity9

My insurance covered diagnostic testing so in the past I did that. Now my insurance does cover some IF treatments but my deductible is $4,000 so we have been steadily working toward that. We have been very fortunate in that we have been able to scrape together enough money for the IUI treatments which have cost is about $700 a month when you add in all the ultrasounds and meds and the IUI... If you would have ahead us if we had $ for that we would have said no but we made it work. Today I am doing another HSG, my third ever and the negotiated rate with my insurance is just under $300 so that is sort of difficult. We had slowly been saving up for "maternity leave" for if I would one day have that opportunity so the $300 is coming out of that.

We start IVF in June or July and will be financing that. We'll either get a private loan or use the company my RE's office works with. But we'll have almost met the deductible by then and then my insurance will cover 80% so hopefully it won't be too bad after that.

KT416

Sha259 said:

I might be in the minority here, but I'm going to suggest that, if you want to get the HSG done, and your doctor is willing to bill it GYN, and your insurance will cover it, I would get it done NOW. 

 

I would definitely look into the billing thing for the HSG and see if your insurance will cover it.

If it is covered and you can swing it, I'd recommend finish testing, especially if you have been trying over a year already. I was surprised how long it took to find the problem and come up with a game plan. Once you finish testing, you will have a better idea what your next steps will be and how much it might cost.

Good luck!

Sewfie

I should have specified that our insurance covers infertility 100% in regard to testing and medical procedures to fix medical causes for infertility. So, my lap was covered because my tubes looked partially blocked in my hsg; femara was covered because it can be used to treat endo (which they found during surgery).
While I'm incredibly thankful for what my insurance does cover, I really wish my plan information was more specific online. It just says "Infertility-100% coverage." But ART isn't covered, so yeah.

kushie77, do you mind if I ask what do you mean by:

*snip*

My HSG was done by my GYN and I work for the health system so anything not covered by insurance is written off,

MH & I both work in the same system as my RE, though we're on the university side and she's on the hospital side. I wonder if there's something I can do or set up to help costs if we need to?

kushie77

@sewfi

I work for a large for profit health system.  My GYN is also part of that health system.  One of our benefits is that if we have any visits and/or testing done "in house" (at the hospital or at any of the Dr's offices) that anything our insurance doesn't cover is written off.  For example- I don't pay copays for any Dr's visit at my PCP or GYN.   If a CBC costs $100 and my insurance only covers $25 they write off the other $75 and I don't get billed. 

Sewfie

That's pretty awesome, @kushie77. I'll be doing some googling tonight.

J1006

Definitely check with your insurance company for coverage and do not assume that if your doctor bills it as GYN it will be covered.  This is what my doctor did and my insurance still didn't cover it.  My insurance is through a Christian organization so they don't cover any contraceptions or infertility treatments/testing.  Even though it was billed as GYN, my insurance company flagged it as infertility testing.  I am now in the middle of an appeal.  My bill for my HSG will end up around $2,600 for radiologist and hospital fees.  Be sure that the cost you stated ($900) is for the entire thing, radiologist and hospital fees, not just the radiologist.  

Lillovebug79

I am very fortunate that I have some IF coverage. My insurance covers all testing after the deductible ($3000) at 80% and most IF at 50%. I also have a 30% coverage for injectable meds. DH and I calculated that we have spent a little over $14,000 so far out of pocket but that includes all of our testing, 8 IUIs, and IVF. We were just discussing how much more we are willing to spend if our upcoming IVF isn't successful and we really aren't sure. If I could do it over again, I would have definitely done IVF sooner and so would DH now that he sees hoe much money we have spent. We were fortunate to have it in savings but we don't want to keep draining it.

As PP mentioned, there are several resources in obtaining financing. I know that it's hard to think about spending so much money on what so many people get for free. We have just tried to keep our eyes on the prize and hope and pray that we will get our beautiful child. That is the only thing that has helped.

Good luck with your HSG and continuing your testing.

Edited for clarity