cost/payment of fertility treatments

joneka · May 2014

I wondered over from the trying to get pregnant board....

First off, I would like to say hello and thank you in advance...

I was wondering for those that 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 we are still not pregnant....I am 32 dh is 33 and we've been married 2 years

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

joneka · May 2014

@ThoseThreeWords‌: I did speak with their financial coordinator...they could not figure a way to file it under insurance, but do have prices for out of pocket patients..she gave me a break down of basic pricing...they're reasonable individually, but one visit can really add up quickly...they have a loan option, but we didnt want that to be the only option....the RE suggested the HSG my next visit, but I would also have to have blood work prior and after I think...my estrogen/progesterone levels came back fine.

We just bought a house together in October, and I was finally able to lease my house last week after it being on the market for 6 months...carrying 2 mortgages is for the birds! So, now I think we can build our savings back up..plus I guess I need to cook more meals instead of eating out..lol

Maladroit · May 2014

For us, it was in the ballpark of 25k...eesh. We had to do all of the testing twice since DH backed out after the first round of testing and we took a year off from pursuing IVF. Then add up the drugs, gas to/from the docs, weekly u/s, blood work, appointments, 1 round of IUI that failed, 1 egg retrieval, OHSS, embryology and storage, and finally 2 FETs - we FINALLY had success after 3+ years of TTC, 2 years w/ two different RE's. We were lucky that DH's insurance helped cover SOME of the costs, but we still were left with no money to put toward savings each month and we lived with DH's parents for about 6 months, so we could afford it. We also didn't have a car payment at the time, so basically our ENTIRE paychecks were dedicated to IVF...but we did it!!

chrissynena · May 2014

We also paid about $25k, and we had nothing saved. Our insurance only paid for blood work and my HSG because I had it done at my OB instead of my RE. With our fresh cycle we put everything on a credit card (yuck I know) then when we were done went to our credit union and got a loan to pay off the card. The interest rate is pretty low and will be paid off in a couple years. With our our FET we were able to save taxes and my yearly bonus to pay for it. We are so so thankful both cycles worked the first time.

dp21 · May 2014

We are lucky that we have some insurance coverage, testing/diagnostic was covered (so semen analysis, all blood work, scopes, etc...20 dollar co-pay for visits) and a lifetime cap of $5,000 for medications (so can get about 2 cycles out of it). We did have to pay for IVF itself oop which was $9,000. We might be able to get 20% back through our insurance, so the financial lady at the IVF clinic is filing that paperwork for us. We just took the money from our savings, we have always lived below our means before IVF such as I have never owned a new car and paid for my used car cash back in 2008. We also asked our tax lady about medical expenses, in order to claim you need to spend 10% of your total income. So right now we are saving every little receipt for everything, including my prenatal vitamins/co-pays/everything oop. Search around, my co-worker IVF clinic was just $7,000 but it's about an hour away versus 5 minutes. We decided the extra 2,000 was worth it to be 5 minutes from home. My friend did IUI at my clinic and it was 800 dollars versus 9,000 for IVF.

dp21 · May 2014

Oh and put everything on my credit card, might as well get credit card points and a free flight somewhere!

joneka · May 2014

Okay, absorbing all info....thank you the different options...ways that I might not had thought of...plus points and flight miles!!!

Allison7 · May 2014

My insurance didn't cover infertility procedures, like IUI, but they did cover testing to see if I had a medical issue. Get the insurance codes from the RE and call your insurance company and see if they cover those tests, you might be surprised.

Even though our tests were covered, we still had company's and things that weren't covered. We just cut back where we could and pay for them as they were done. No eating out, no big trips, cut out activities like sports events and concerts, etc. not a lot of fun, but worth it to avoid debt. We were prepping for IVF when we got the BFP, but we were looking at about $27000. This was going to be done with our savings. We wouldn't have much left after that, but our parents were willing to loan to us if we got in a pinch. Some of the financial options the RE's office had for IVF we weren't allowed to use because of the DOR diagnosis. The tests your RE wants to do will determine a lot about costs and timeline and in my opinion it would be better to do them sooner rather than later.

ttuprincess · May 2014

For testing and my Lap they my RE's office let us pay it out over time. That was not the case once we got into treatment cycles though. For those we had to pony up the cash up front.

joneka · May 2014

Unfortunately the office is pay at time of service

Aurora1181 · May 2014

We also are 100% out of pocket. We just went as fast as we could afford. We spent one year doing 4 IUIs ($1000-$3000 each) and then the next year we did 2 IVF cycles and a frozen transfer (~$30K).

We both took on a second job (basically consulting so we could do it on weekends and during our off hours) in between the IUIs and the IVFs. And then depleted all of our savings. We put the rest on a credit card. While it sucked having two jobs each, and it was really stressful, I think it was the best choice for us, and we knew it was only temporary and obviously for a good cause. The worst part was just waiting for each cycle to begin! I get so impatient.

joneka · May 2014

Aurora1181 said:
We also are 100% out of pocket. We just went as fast as we could afford. We spent one year doing 4 IUIs ($1000-$3000 each) and then the next year we did 2 IVF cycles and a frozen transfer (~$30K).

We both took on a second job (basically consulting so we could do it on weekends and during our off hours) in between the IUIs and the IVFs. And then depleted all of our savings. We put the rest on a credit card. While it sucked having two jobs each, and it was really stressful, I think it was the best choice for us, and we knew it was only temporary and obviously for a good cause. The worst part was just waiting for each cycle to begin! I get so impatient.

Wow, you and DH diligence had paid off, but good jesus that a lot of money! At least I know best and worse case scenerios.....I don't want to be in a situation of dang I wish I wouldve known that back then...I want to know now, so I can make the best decision.

Thank you

bayareagirl2011 · May 2014

We had really good coverage and also did a flexible spending account. They paid for about half. We were very thankful!

katekat8721 · May 2014

Our IUIs and diagnostics were covered 50%. IVF was not and we were 100% OOP.

We did 9 cycles of IUIs w/meds before ultimately doing IVF. While we did the IUIs we just saved up like mad for about a year so we could afford it.

absolutelymaybe · May 2014

We paid out of pocket for my HSG and DH's first SA years ago (when we first started the process). It should've been covered by diagnostic testing (we later found out), but didn't know better at the time.

As for infertility stuff (aside from diagnostic testing) we were 100% OOP. The only med that was covered was the PIO shots w/ a $10 copay.

We did our IUIs through OB's clinic and they are allowing us to make payments every month just as it is with any other medical procedure. The IUIs cost about $2000 per cycle. We were able to pay those mostly as they were happening, though, and don't really owe anything to the OB.

Our IVF w/ ICSI and FET were done w/ a RE and those were paid for on a low-interest credit line through DH's bank (he's had the account open for years, it's actually what we used when we got married). I think our cycle (with the FET) ended up costing $18k or so? He's the finance person in our relationship, so he would know more than I do.

Saintelizabeth · May 2014

My insurance covered up to $2500 lifetime max, as well as diagnostic testing. Unfortunately we blew through the insurance coverage with a few IUIs and no luck. We paid for our IVF cycle OOP. We paid what ended up being almost $15,000 by emptying our savings, borrowing a little from my 401k and graciously getting much needed help from my ILs.

FloridaSun82 · May 2014

We were also just about completely out of pocket and paid about $25k. We did a loan through ARC for the actual procedures (about 12K) and put all the meds, tests, office visits, etc on a credit card. THEN, we balance transferred all of our fertility costs to a credit card that was doing a 0% interest for 18 months deal. Our plan is to pay it off slowly and steadily and just transfer it to another credit card with a similar deal when the 18 months is over.

Honestly, unless saving the money in a reasonable amount of time is attainable for you guys, credit cards and loans are really the only option if you don't have money in savings. Don't think about it too much. At least for me, it just makes me angry and envious of the people that get to have babies for free and could have used that 25k to buy a car.

justjinny · May 2014

All our diagnostic testing was covered through insurance. I think our IUI's cost $1000 each, but I was on mostly oral meds with just 1 trigger shot. Injectable cost more per cycle. We decided not to go through with IVF since it cost a minimum of $12,000 and our chances were low.

We went ahead with domestic newborn adoption and that will end up around $27,000. Plus, my entire maternity leave was unpaid since I had no medical reason to not work. So having a bio kid will mean I'll get about $15,000 from my disability policies through work that I wasn't eligible for when we went the adoption route.

Like PP said, you may be close to a diagnosis with some of the simple blood tests. For me, it was a really low AMH that showed in an early blood test, not the HSG that uncovered problems. The HSG is needed though to make sure your tubes are clear, otherwise attempting an IUI would be pointless.

We are very frugal and live well below our means so saving isn't ever an issue for us, but it does take time to build up a sum large enough for these really big things. We took out a home equity line of credit just to have as an emergency fall back for a few months after paying off our adoption.

cachoque · May 2014

We were also 100% OOP. We went the credit card route w/ both of us opening a 0% for 18 months deal to pay for a huge chunk of it all. It is a bit scary doing it that way - I'd only recommend to those who are absolutely positive that they can pay it off in time. B/w 3 IUIs, 1 IVF & 2 FETs plus all the diagnostic procedures, we spent roughly $30-35k over 18 months.

One thing - definitely keep all receipts, records etc. We wrote off everything on our taxes up to I think $25K maximum. Saved us big time in April.

Good luck!

Deardra77 · May 2014

We've spent approx. $30K but that's for our son & this pregnancy. My advice is to try and do as much as possible in the same calendar year so you don't have to reach 10% of your wages every year. So come January be ready to do what ever it is your plan is & try to squeeze as many cycles in as possible into the same calendar year so then come tax time you get a nice healthy tax refund that will help pay off the bills/debt of treatment. For us we were thinking it would take about 3 IVFs to be successful so we had an early March transfer to allow for time to complete a few more cycle this year if necessary.

We took out a home equity loan before our first IVF of $50K so we knew that money would be there to pay for treatments if we needed it & that really helped reduce stress. Thankfully we didn't have to dip into it, we were very lucky & only needed 2 IVFs, one in 2012, one this year so we saved like crazy between the 2. Most of sons clothes are second hand, we stopped going out to eat etc. so we could save for all the cycles this year. Good luck & hopefully you'll be able to be successfully with treatments that are a lot cheaper & less invesaive than IVF!

amwenz · May 2014

I know you are not at the point. OF knowing which route if any you will have to take but always ask at your clinic about meds. I just donated a box worth and it was probably over $2,000 worth! I was hoping to help someone who might not be able to continue treatment based on money. Will your insurance cover medications?

Sk8terWoman · May 2014

Our insurance covered all diagnostic testing such as bloodwork, HSG, SA and 3 IUIs. We were 100% OOP for IVF. When the IUIs (unmedicated cycle, using OPKs since it was a male factor interfility issue) we moved forward with IVF. We decided to go with a plan offered by our RE, which includes 3 IVF's--but medication is not covered. We did one IVF cycle, and out of that cycle had 8, 5-day embryos. Our first fresh transfer didn't work, but our frozen embryo transfer was successful and we are due in August. Our plan covers storage of our embryos for two years, and then it is $40/months afterwards. We do plan on having additional children, but I'm not sure of the cost for future FET. We plan on doing a natural cycle FET in the future as well.

As for payment, we had money in savings that thankfully even after we paid for the treatments still left us with a emergency cushion for a little over 3 months of living expenses. We put all of the IVF costs, which totaled around $22K (includes meds and procedures) on our credit card for reward miles. We then paid it off immediately. Like PP, keep a log of your mileage, all out of pocket costs for tax reasons. We were able to write off the medical costs and got a small refund this year. Best of luck.

Rebecca'sMama · May 2014

Our insurance covered 50% of diagnostic testing but nothing else (except the cheap meds like doxycycline, prednisone, and pain meds for egg retrieval). The first time around, we did Clomid and TI, then moved in to IUI with some added injectables. Each of our IUI cycles cost us about $1000 each. We were able to pay for those out of pocket, as we could pay for it as we went along and it tended to spread out over a couple of paydays.

This time around, we went to IVF with ICSI. The clinic we used was opening a satellite branch in the neighboring city to us, and they had a discounted rate for that clinic (where all the monitoring happened). That saved a bit but with drugs, ICSI, etc, our one IVF cycle cost $14k. It is all due up front. Since we didn't have any embryos to freeze, we will get maybe $700 back that would have been for cryopreservation.

We put the max contribution into our healthcare FSA for this year, so even though that comes directly out of dh's paycheck, it does so pre-tax, so it was like getting a 30% discount on that 5k, which helped plus the deductions are spread out over the full year even though we paid it all out in March. We also had money in savings that we used. My dh's 457 plan has a system where you can borrow money from yourself (different than taking $ out of your retirement account which would result in penalties). We did the paperwork for it and had the money available if we needed it, but as it turned out, we didn't.

One thing I hadn't thought of when planning about the costs of IVF was the expenses that come after the cycle is a success. I am on PIO until 10 weeks so I am paying $70 every two weeks out of pocket for it, plus the patches, Endometrin, and Estrace. We can pay for it out of our regular budget, but it is a consideration to keep in mind when thinking of costs. Similarly, the ultrasounds and monitoring I have now that I am pg are thankfully covered by insurance but they require a copayment and coinsurance that should also be kept in mind. Because I will later be transferred to my ob, these don't fall under the maternity package deal.

Deardra77 · May 2014

Rebecca'sMama said:
Our insurance covered 50% of diagnostic testing but nothing else (except the cheap meds like doxycycline, prednisone, and pain meds for egg retrieval). The first time around, we did Clomid and TI, then moved in to IUI with some added injectables. Each of our IUI cycles cost us about $1000 each. We were able to pay for those out of pocket, as we could pay for it as we went along and it tended to spread out over a couple of paydays.

This time around, we went to IVF with ICSI. The clinic we used was opening a satellite branch in the neighboring city to us, and they had a discounted rate for that clinic (where all the monitoring happened). That saved a bit but with drugs, ICSI, etc, our one IVF cycle cost $14k. It is all due up front. Since we didn't have any embryos to freeze, we will get maybe $700 back that would have been for cryopreservation.

We put the max contribution into our healthcare FSA for this year, so even though that comes directly out of dh's paycheck, it does so pre-tax, so it was like getting a 30% discount on that 5k, which helped plus the deductions are spread out over the full year even though we paid it all out in March. We also had money in savings that we used. My dh's 457 plan has a system where you can borrow money from yourself (different than taking $ out of your retirement account which would result in penalties). We did the paperwork for it and had the money available if we needed it, but as it turned out, we didn't.

One thing I hadn't thought of when planning about the costs of IVF was the expenses that come after the cycle is a success. I am on PIO until 10 weeks so I am paying $70 every two weeks out of pocket for it, plus the patches, Endometrin, and Estrace. We can pay for it out of our regular budget, but it is a consideration to keep in mind when thinking of costs. Similarly, the ultrasounds and monitoring I have now that I am pg are thankfully covered by insurance but they require a copayment and coinsurance that should also be kept in mind. Because I will later be transferred to my ob, these don't fall under the maternity package deal.

Just wanted to comment on you still having to pay for the PIO and eat race etc now. I'm pretty sure that should be covered by your insurance. It is now for pregnancy maintenance not as a treatment for infertility (fair enough the specific reason u used it is cause it follicles were aspirated and aren't there to produce the hormones naturally but u r pregnant and it is needed to maintain your pregnancy. For my IVF the ordered as much as I needed to get To first beta at which point I can considered pregnant so the drugs literally went from OOP before the results to covered afterwards. You should double check on the drugs cause u r pregnant now and pregnancy related stuff should all be covered (at least to my extend of knowledge)

Rebecca'sMama · May 2014

Just wanted to comment on you still having to pay for the PIO and eat race etc now. I'm pretty sure that should be covered by your insurance. It is now for pregnancy maintenance not as a treatment for infertility (fair enough the specific reason u used it is cause it follicles were aspirated and aren't there to produce the hormones naturally but u r pregnant and it is needed to maintain your pregnancy. For my IVF the ordered as much as I needed to get To first beta at which point I can considered pregnant so the drugs literally went from OOP before the results to covered afterwards. You should double check on the drugs cause u r pregnant now and pregnancy related stuff should all be covered (at least to my extend of knowledge)

Thanks for this! I just refilled today actually, and I had my nurse call the Vivelle, Estrace, and Endometrin in to CVS and insurance covered it, but she said CVS couldn't do PIO. Do any "regular" pharmacies carry PIO?

Deardra77 · May 2014

Rebecca'sMama said:

Just wanted to comment on you still having to pay for the PIO and eat race etc now. I'm pretty sure that should be covered by your insurance. It is now for pregnancy maintenance not as a treatment for infertility (fair enough the specific reason u used it is cause it follicles were aspirated and aren't there to produce the hormones naturally but u r pregnant and it is needed to maintain your pregnancy. For my IVF the ordered as much as I needed to get To first beta at which point I can considered pregnant so the drugs literally went from OOP before the results to covered afterwards. You should double check on the drugs cause u r pregnant now and pregnancy related stuff should all be covered (at least to my extend of knowledge)

Thanks for this! I just refilled today actually, and I had my nurse call the Vivelle, Estrace, and Endometrin in to CVS and insurance covered it, but she said CVS couldn't do PIO. Do any "regular" pharmacies carry PIO?

For Ivf I got it through walgreens pharmacy and for pregnancy I got it through my regular pharmacy. I'm with kaiser though so it's the medical plans pharmacy, not just anyone can walk in and get a prescription. I think it's what regular women call P17 shots and some get to maintain pregnancy due to a history of early labor with previous pregnancies. Could be wrong but have seen it talked about on other boards. U cud ask on another board where they were able to purchase it ( although I have seen a lot where women talk about going in to get the shot rather than it being self administered)

maybebaby2015 · May 2014

I'm just a passer by but there are fertility grants that you can look into. I'm fortunate to have 50% coverage through Aetna. So my OOP expense is $3500 and $1750 for freezing my embryos. I'm with Shady Grove fertility and they also have a shared risk program. Lastly I'm actually going to do an online donation site. It's called indiegogo. I'm only sending it to family and very close friends to try to raise as much as I can to pay for my expenses.

saraeric · May 2014

I was terrified at the costs of seeing a RE and treatments but for us, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Our IUIs were $400 each plus about another $150 for meds (letrozole/ovidrel). The ultrasound monitoring was around $100 each time (I think). We were lucky in that it only took us 2 IUIs. I was sure we'd have to move on to IVF but we were very fortunate that we didn't have to go that route. All-in-all, with diagnostic testing/montoring/procedures, we probably spent around $3500 to achieve this pregnancy. Well worth it in the end. Best of luck!

TXUltraRunner · May 2014

We paid out of pocket for all of our monitored cycles and the failed IUI cycle. The prices at our clinic were: $700 for IUI, $7 for letrozole (insurance covered it), $75 for Ovidrel, $80 for each semen analysis, $369 for each ultrasound during our monitored cycles (one cycle I had 6!!!).

My hysteroscopy was covered under insurance but we had to pay the $500 deductible.

When it came to IVF, the package we purchased was $8,500 (one fresh and one frozen cycle) and my medication was $3,850. Our insurance covered none of this. We borrowed from DH's retirement fund because it has a 2% interest on loans out of that account. We hope to repay the loan before the baby comes so I can quit my job after birth. The packages at our clinic went all the way up to $17,000 (unlimited cycles) it just depended on what the RE recommended for your unique situation.

Our clinic was 2 hours away from our home so my cost lists don't include mileage/gas.

I can't comment on what you should and should not do financially for your treatment but I am glad that we moved forward when we did with our treatments. We started out 3 years ago and it took us this long to get pregnant. Had I known how it would be for us, I would have started sooner no matter the cost.

becomingmommyagain · May 2014

We got very fortunate with our insurance. We do have fertility treatment coverage, but it is subject to our $5,000 deductible. Our plan allowed for all of the diagnostics and all of our monitoring appointments to be billed under the regular plan - this included all of the ultrasounds and blood draws. The only thing that was billed against our fertility benefits was the actual retrieval, transfer, and cryopreservation. Your doc will preauthorize treatments through your insurance, but you should also call them and ask for your benefits in writing. And even if your insurance says they wont pay for anything, your doctor should still bill every treatment to your insurance and you should get the denial letter PRIOR to paying anything out of pocket.

We did not have any coverage for injectable medications though which was the largest expense for us by far. We used a major pharmacy for the cycle meds but found out later that some of the smaller compounding pharmacies are much less expensive and give huge discounts when you order all of your cycle meds through them.

Even though we did have some coverage, we still ended up with $16k out of pocket. We did 3 fresh IVF cycles with a total drug cost of about $8,000 and total treatment cost share of about $8,000 as well since our insurance rolls over in July we had to pay the deductible in full twice.

If you have some time before you are starting, I'd recommend looking at your insurance options. If you are going to be mostly out of pocket, go with a high deductible insurance plan and open and HSA and sock as much cash tax free into as possible. You can only claim on your taxes those expenses that are more than 10% of your AGI, so plan to do as much treatment in a single tax year as you can.

If you do go the route of cashing out a retirement, make sure to talk to a tax professional about the best way to go about cashing out. Sometimes rolling to an IRA first will give you better tax shelter - otherwise you will pay the early withdrawl fee, a penalty, and you will also owe state tax and fed income tax on the total amount of your withdraw. It is always always better to loan against your retirement than to cash it out!!

And finally, there are several financing programs available for IVF. Your doctor's finance person should be able to give you info on who they work with.

GermanGirl2007 · May 2014

Our initial testing was covered under insurance, and part of our IUI's were covered under insurance so I think we paid about $350 for each of our 4 IUI's and just $50 co-pays for our initial testing appointments. We just paid as we went. For our IVF/FET we were SUPER fortunate to get into a clinical study, so the cost of our IVF/FET was covered and we paid for the meds, which totaled about $2,000. So all told, we only paid about $4,000 + some for our treatments, which is absolutely nuts and beyond fortunate. I feel so incredibly lucky.

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