Lowering Cost of IVF...

[brit1612]

Posted an interesting article about "low cost IVF" on my blog (link is in sig, if you would like to check it out). IVF cost is such a joke and if you are like me you probably have 0% coverage! I am always looking for ways to try to lower the cost. I have been very lucky to have a RE that waves his fees for consecutive cycles (if you don't have a baby the first try). But of course it still cost thousands of dollars to pay for the hospital, etc. Good luck to everyone, hope this article can help someone!

[gina728]

it is so crazy how much ivf cost i understand u 100%....i remember seeing somewhere the reason ivf cost so much & not many insurance companies cover it is that people are using ivf for the wrong reason & are not using it like certain couples or persons have to.....i have heard & i cant remember from whom, but they were telling me a story that women are waiting later in there lives to have children, which is fine, but if it doesnt happen right away then they go start to ivf in hopes that it may work for them.. & it a really is ashame because there are many couples whom really need help....some insurance companies only allow 3 ivf cycles & honestly in my opinion i think they should do more than 3 ivf cycles & i honestly dont think it should be alife time max i think they should have 6 or more ivf cycles every 2 years starting from the 1st date of treatment & then it renews..also i think they should an appropiate age limit...i am not sure which age but they would have to come to an agreement on what age....

[brit1612]

Wow, I never even thought about the insurance companies not covering it because people are electively using it! I don't think there is anything wrong with having children later in life, but I can't imagine jumping to IVF if it was not neccessary. The insurance companies should just come up with some kind of rules and or guidelines if they don't want to cover certain situations. I was 23 when I first started going through IVF and it took us six cycles!

[WndrGrl]

I think a lot of it also has to do with the doctors. There are many doctors out there that will do IVF because of the money it brings in. I don't think they actually look at the patients and determine what is best for them. Look at octomom's doctor. How many embryos did he end up transferring? No doctor in their right mind should have done that.

I would be so nervous about going to another country to get IVF done. Shoot any procedure for that matter.

[brit1612]

I agree, I would be nervous as well. But if you found a clinic that you knew had a good reputation and you could go on a vacation you would not typically get to take, it could be neat I think. I guess the hard part would be finding a clinic that you knew you could trust. I have heard of people treating it like a vacation and traveling.

Your're right about some of the doctors, but I think there are a lot of wonderful RE's out there as well. Mine is one of them. He was always so generous and kept us moving forward, even when he was not making any money off of us. It is a shame that there are some RE's that give them a bad name.

[Ghost]

Other ways to save $$$ is to participate in research or, crazy enough, get a job at a clinic.

[brit1612]

Get a job at a clinic; I like that one ghost! But do you have to be qualified in medical areas to get a job there? Would there be any jobs that someone with a math degree would be qualified for? Thanks for the input.

[Happy Bunny]

For our treatment, we focused on lowering the cost of our daily lives rather than trying to find a way to lower the cost of treatment. We found that our lifestyle had a lot of room in it for the trimming of fat even though we didn't have a lavish lifestyle to begin with. We learned that we were actually hemorrhaging money a little here, a little there. Post IVF, we were able to pay off both our vehicles and save for additional IVF treatment.

Sure, this route meant having a older sofa that we're not excited about, preparing home cooked meals and take-away lunches, reduced wardrobe additions and numerous other reductions. However, once we adjusted, we're just as happy and satisfied with our lives as we had been before.

[jenice]

My clinic charged $8,500 for a cycle. My first clinic charged around $15,000 for a fresh. It is unbelievable the difference in $$$. Plus, I got preggers and just had a baby with the cheaper clinic. What are other clinics charging if you don't mind me asking ?

[WndrGrl]

Our clinic is about $9k. That doesn't include meds but it does include 6 months of storage. Meds are going to run us about $3500 max.

[Ghost]

Get a job at a clinic; I like that one ghost! But do you have to be qualified in medical areas to get a job there? Would there be any jobs that someone with a math degree would be qualified for? Thanks for the input.

A clinic staff includes front desk, lab techs, embryologists, ultrasound techs, coordinators, doctors, and business management. They usually contract out for other functions, like PR and office cleaning.

[brit1612]

Happy bunny- I totally agree with what you are saying, many people have lots of room for cuts in there day to day lifestyle. I can honestly say that we can't cut much else than we already have. We cut back on a lot of things when we were trying to pay down debt and increase our credit. Of course there is always room for more cuts but they would have to be drastic cuts for us because we have already done a lot of the little things; eat at home, spend less on groceries, don't buy anything extra...clothes, etc.

I don't remeber exctly what my clinic charged. I just remember the total being around $12,000 (including the meds).

[jenice]

My clinic charge $8,500 including meds for a fresh cycle.The RE feels everyone should be able to afford IVF. I think this is the cheapest price I have ever heard of.

[jenice]

I think my RE charges $5,500 for the fresh cycle and $3,000 for the meds. RE does have packages, which I didn't get. I think that is how they really make their money is on the packages. If you buy 3 cycles and only use one they profit from that. Plus, my RE is that good so it definitely works out for them.

[brit1612]

Jenice - Wow, that is the lowest cost I have ever heard!

My clinic is pretty average in their prices but where they become cheap is by saving you money if the first cycle fails. I did all of my consecutive cycles for only a couple thousand dollars each time. Which is still a lot of money to me, but a lot cheaper than the original prices.