Advice for a single?

amnda1130

Sorry, I realize this doesn't quite fit on this board but I thought you might be able to share some information.

I have a dear friend who is single and has made the decision to do IUI to have a child.  She is running into resistance with her insurance as they only appear to pay for women that have infertility issues, not women who choose to become a single mother. It got us thinking does the same apply to women who choose to carry children and are in a same sex relationship?

Just curious, are you all self paying for your procedures (IUI, testing, etc) or is your insurance covering you?

TIA!

BostonGayGal

Hello! ?I am also single having a baby and will be paying out of pocket since I do not have a diagnosis of infertility. ?I would advise your friend to look online to for single parting by choice groups. ?They would be a great resource, even as she chooses clinics or donors. ?Also, have her look around for a bank that might focus upon women patients who do not have fertility issues.

I thought there were only two clinics around here that did a lot of IUI's, but they mostly deal with women who have fertility problems and are crazy expensive since they can bill insurance. ?I looked more carefully and found a clinic that sort of specializes in lesbians growing families. ?They certainly offer their services to everyone, but they have many more patients who do not have any known fertility difficulties when they begin. ?The cost is considerably less.

Where are you? There may be someone on here who knows of clinics or supports in your area.

ctbride08

As far as I know, our insurance co's do not require a dx of infertility for coverage, nor do they have a minimum number of tries before they will kick in, but at this point we are paying 100% out of pocket b/c we have crazy high deductibles to meet for AI coverage. Regardless, though, we'll be glad to have it if we need to switch to IVF.

And ditto BGG - RE's tend to be very expensive. I'd suggest your friend ask around for smaller clinics, midwives, or ob/gyns who perform IUIs; they'd likely be much more affordable.

Mrs._F

PP's gave great advice!

Many insurance companies do not cover IUI or other procedures without a diagnosis of infertility.  My insurance, for example, won't cover anything unless I try to get pregnant for 12 months without success - after that, it would cover pretty much everything.

Best of luck to your friend!!

Two*True

It varies by insurance.  The first company I had paid for 6 IUIs regardless of diagnosis or sexual orientation.  My rockin' new insurance pays for everything including IVF.

2brides

We had to pay for everything out of pocket. My insurance has a $1000 limit for infertility testing (and that is all - no treatment), but when I went to get my HSG done, they had coded me as infertile (typically, they are only done one women who aren't getting pregnant over an extended period of time) and therefore the insurance wouldn't pay since I wasn't being tested for infertility - supposedly I already was. Semantics.

 The only thing that my insurance did cover was Clomid - which is the least expensive thing that we did.

 Another good thing to know is that everything (including sperm - if your friend is buying it) can be paid for out of a Health Flex Spending Account (pre-tax.)

thiswillbe

We are entirely out of pocket. The thing that really burns me up is that my insurance company *does* cover infertility services (IUIs, etc), but only for women who are partnered with men. I don't get why they would cover a donor sperm IUI for a woman who is partnered with a man, but not the exact same procedure for a woman who is partnered with a woman. It sucks.

I did ask if I would have coverage if I were single instead of married to a woman (thinking I could perhaps go that route since I am legally "single"), and they said it'd be the same (no coverage).

Tell your friend to check her insurance, though. Sometimes the insurance company will cover "diagnostic" procedures even if they don't cover "infertility services." But she'd have to make sure it's coded correctly for that. I just had a HSG recently, and if the RE's office codes it as "diagnostic" it will be covered but if they code it "infertility" it won't be (I talked with the nurse about it, but I am still waiting to see how it will all turn out).

Good luck to your friend!

thiswillbe

I see 2brides and I were typing at the same time.

Ditto what she said about Clomid and the Health FSA, btw.

bluedaisyus

a lot more of ours was paid for than we thought would be, but i think that was in large part because of how our RE's office coded things on the billing. we did pay for some things, but didn't have to pay for any blood testing or ultrasounds which was a big relief.

because my wife is over 35, her insurance would have started covering everything after 6 months of trying (12 months if she was under), up to a certain lifetime amount.

Duchess1

We are entirely out of pocket too Good luck to your friend!