Saving up for IVF or egg freezing can be a costly endeavor (I know — my husband and I have now gone through four rounds, you can read about them here or find a link to all of our IVF coverage in the links at the end of the post).
I’ve now coached a few of my girlfriends through the process, which can be extremely confusing, and I compiled a list of my tips for paying for IVF. One word of advice, before starting IVF, especially if you only have the budget for one round, you want to make sure that your eggs are in the best shape possible in terms of their quality. That’s why we suggest three months of our routine to get your eggs as healthy as possible heading into IVF so that you have more healthy eggs and embryos when they retrieve them. It’s a shame to go through a round and only get a few eggs of poor quality that need to be discarded (We had this happen in our first round of IVF).
Here are our tips to funding your IVF or egg freezing treatment:
Check your Insurance: The first thing you want to do when you first even start thinking about IVF is to figure out how much your insurance covers in terms of the procedure, bloodwork, surgery and medicine. If you are married, you should have your husband or partner check his or her insurance too, as this could really come in handy. The average full round of IVF costs upwards of $30,000, so knowing how much your insurance covers, is key. You’ll want to call whoever covers you, such as Aetna, and ask if there is any fertility benefit or related coverage for fertility treatment. It is very important here to ask if it covers eggs or only embryos (mixing the egg and sperm) depending on what procedure you want. You will also want to ask what the cap on your insurance is — does it only extend to one round of IVF? Is there a dollar limit cap? How much in medicine costs will it cover? What is the cap on medicine? Some insurers will only cover couples that have been trying unsuccessfully for over a year to get pregnant, so you should see if there are any restrictions on using your insurance.
Check with Human Resources: After speaking to your insurer, you and your partner should call your respective human resource departments and ask if they are enrolled in any addition fertility benefit programs, such as Progyny. This is a separate fertility benefit companies such as Apple and Facebook have that covers up to three full rounds of UVF for its employees for virtually free. My company also has it and it covered almost the entire cost of all of our rounds. This was a huge benefit to us, as our bill would have been north of $100,000 had my employer not had Progyny, which would have canceled our dreams of having a wedding or buying a house. If your company doesn’t have a fertility benefit, it is worth asking your employer if they plan on introducing that into your healthcare plan the following calendar year. If they are, that may be worth delaying your IVF until the start of the new year.
Check Your State Policy: Check whether your city or state is one that is covering fertility benefits. New York State, for instance, just announced that it will cover fertility costs for residents. Others are following suit. Find out exactly what your state provides and what you are eligible for. Here’s a good primer on fertility coverage by state.
Consider Medication Costs: Each round of IVF will cost between $4,000 and $7,000 for all of the shots you take. This is an eye popping figure, especially for multiple rounds. You should do a few things to help offset this. First, get an understanding of whether your insurance or employer will cover any of this cost and ask what your lifetime cap on fertility medicine is, so that if you need additional rounds you know how much you have left. When it comes time for your doctor to order the medications, ALWAYS ask for the generic versions of the medicine. This in and of itself will shave off at least $1,000 of the cost and the efficacy is exactly the same. Some of the medicine companies also offer grants to patients that meet certain criteria that will either cover the cost of some of the medications or provide a steep discount, which is worth looking into. If you’ve had friends do IVF and they have leftover medication that was stored properly and hasn’t expired, it is worth asking them if they’d mind giving it to you instead of throwing it out. I just recently gave a bunch of my leftover medication to a girlfriend freezing her eggs, saving her thousands of dollars.
Consider Financing: Some newer IVF clinics are offering payment plans and financing to their patients. This is a great way for women to make the cost more approachable, and makes sense for women early in their careers who can’t foot the bill for IVF but want to get their eggs out when they are young and the most healthy and plentiful.
As always, if you have found our IVF coverage helpful, we would love if you would consider making a donation at our Patreon page to support our journalism!
Read More of Our IVF Coverage:
IVF Diary: My First, Unsuccessful Round of Egg Freezing
IVF Diary: My Second Round of Egg Freezing
IVF Diary: Egg Retrieval, Recovery & Embryo Results
IVF Diary: My Third Round of Egg Freezing
IVF Diary: Successful Results From Our Third Round of IVF
The Supplements I Take To Improve Egg Quality