Need help...

[to_have_fun08]

Ghost - That's interesting that you say that if everyone had insurance, then services would have to be cut. I know i have had several cycles covered under insurance and the insurance paid around $8000 for each cycle. Are the clinics not really making any $$ with $8000 for a cycle? My previous clinic, for their "special" patients, (I haven't figured out how to get in the "special" club) but they have charged as low as $6500 for a cycle and this includes ICSI. The manager of the clinic denied this cost up and down when i was asking why i couldn't get this price for my out of pocket cycles, but i spoke to 5 different gals that say this is the price they were charged. I guess all insurances are different and could be paying the clinics less then $8000.

[NancyB]

Morning,

Thanks for your lovely messages I live in the UK and over here they do not do bloods we are just asked to take a pregnacy test 15 days after embryo transfer (The hospital gave me a test away with me the day of embryo transfer).

I did another test this morning Negative again

I had no embryos suitable for freezing I don't think I have ever felt so sad in my life.

Debs
x

A different topic, but perhaps interesting...

I read a news story in which some British health official was berating British IVF clinics for charging too much for IVF cycles. The cycles were around 3000 pounds, about 5000 dollars, and he thought that was outrageously high. From the US perspective, that's a very low price, and it looks like your IVF cycles are stripped down to the bare minimum (very little monitoring, for example), and the success rates are somewhat low as a result. My thought was that the official was thinking of IVF cycles as a commodity, as if all IVF is the same.

Oddly in the US, most IVF is paid in cash by the patient, and clinics compete on both quality and price. While it's obviously nice for the patients to have insurance coverage for IVF, insurance pays only a small fraction of what cash patients are charged, so if all patients were on insurance we'd be forced to cut service to the bone, much like the European model. I wonder if that's really a better value?

Maybe an irrelevant comment here, but it's been on my mind.

Some good and interesting thoughts, Ghost. Thanks for sharing.

[MamaBoo]

I think Ghost raises an interesting point. I've had similar wonderings.

[Warren Dew]

Oddly in the US, most IVF is paid in cash by the patient, and clinics compete on both quality and price. While it's obviously nice for the patients to have insurance coverage for IVF, insurance pays only a small fraction of what cash patients are charged, so if all patients were on insurance we'd be forced to cut service to the bone, much like the European model. I wonder if that's really a better value?

I've been wondering about that too. It seems to me this isn't the only area area of health care where cash patients kind of keep the system honest, so to speak.

We certainly appreciated getting the extra HCG readings, knowing the doubling time, getting our progesterone dose adjusted in response to what was happening, etc.

[Sunshine1576]

I agree with Ghost on raising the question of cost v/s quality. I would rather have quality anyday, but still $10,000 per cycle is outrageous to pay out of pocket. Even still IF it was covered the doctors would still be getting paid their fair share. Are we getting (pardon the term) "screwed" because we pay cash upfront especially when there isn't a high success rate for this to work on the 1st attempt. Let's say we paid a smaller portion and then when it did work they could charge the difference to my credit card. I'm only saying fertility patients should have more options out there with local clinics.
Sunshine1576

[brit1612]

Thanks for the input ghost. It is really kind of depressing to think about the fact that insurance pays a lot less than what I have to pay out of pocket. But I can say that my clinic has been very generous and did not charge me their "fees" on my consecutive cycles. Can you tell me why clinics will not let you pay it out over time? Like other medical bills??? Thanks.

[Ghost]

Thanks for the input ghost. It is really kind of depressing to think about the fact that insurance pays a lot less than what I have to pay out of pocket. But I can say that my clinic has been very generous and did not charge me their "fees" on my consecutive cycles. Can you tell me why clinics will not let you pay it out over time? Like other medical bills??? Thanks.

The preference to get the money up front is natural. After a cycle, patients may not want to pay because the cycle failed or because it succeeded and a baby is on the way.

One could think of the cash patients as being ripped off or of the insurance companies as freeloaders. The truth is somewhere between the two.