Financial Concerns

emg40emg40 Posts: 35
in Single Mothers by Choice
I have been reading about everyone trying multiple IUIs and/or IVF. I am just wondering if anyone has found creative ways to pay for all of this. My insurance does not have any fertility coverage at all, and I am a single teacher--so I am definitely not wealthy. I have been advised that IVF is my best option, but that is way out of my price range. My doctor is willing to try a few IUIs, but I need injectable medication. Between the cost of the medication, the doctor/ultrasound fees, and the donor fee, the cost is still way out of reach. Any ideas of how to pay for all of this or find less expensive sperm would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • BanditBandit Posts: 348
    If you live in Metro Boston, I have a single practitioner that doesn't charge much. The other way to look into a doctor is to look into the GLBT community and see if there is a doctor that just does IUI and doesn't charge much. Also ask your OB they maybe able to recommend someone that doesn't charge as much. I personnaly only did IUI's. Good luck.
  • austingurlaustingurl Posts: 202
    You could take out a loan from a medical company if paying it slowly over time is a better option for you. The problem is that everything might not work and you are stuck paying back a loan for years with no baby, but it's an option. I did a few IUIs without my insurance paying, and then switched jobs to where my insurance did pay. Prior to coverage, my dr gave me the name of another patient who had unused medications. She basically got a 3 month prescription filled and then got pregnant on the second try. I bought the last month of prescriptions from her at her copay amount. That saved me a ton. You might check to see if your dr or any groups in your area know of someone who had left over meds they are willing to sell.
    I am a single social worker, so I had to get creative too. I also took a part-time second job for a few months to pay off some other bills. That helped and I quit once the baby was born. You can also look at borrowing against your 401K if that is possible. I didn't go that route, but I definitely explored my options.
    I had a friend who googled "sperm on sale" and found a donor she liked through a bank. The donor was soon to retire so the bank was selling the sperm cheaper. I am not sure which bank she used, but she has a beautiful 2 year old son now from that donor. That might be worth exploring.
  • katrinlkatrinl Posts: 41
    emg40,
    Understand your concerns, am in the same boat. Name of health plans that cover infertility treatments would be great. I live in Fl . Have my second IUI tomorrow, afraid I will have to move to IVF since I am over 42. Don't know how I will do it financially however and hate to give up my dream because I don't have the money !
    Wishing you lots of luck and strength trough this rocky road ..
  • jaimecjaimec Posts: 329
    I have worked a lot of overtime and cut back on lots of little things I don't need. I am also very lucky my doctor has worked with me on prices!
  • emg40emg40 Posts: 35
    Thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate the ideas, but I am not sure how to act on some of them. I live in N. CA and everything is exorbitantly expsensive--including the doctors. I didn't know there were loans from medical companies--so maybe I will look into that. I wish I could work extra now--but in addition to the financial concerns, I have a lot of health issues and taking injectable hormones will be very difficult and risky for me--so I don't want to committ to more work and stress right now. I think maybe this just isn't meant to be for me.
  • BanditBandit Posts: 348
    emg can you try it without taking meds? I did it with no meds, I know that meds help your chances, just a thought. See what happens.
  • emg40emg40 Posts: 35
    Anissa, the doctors are telling me that even with injectable meds, my chances are "low". So-given the really high cost of sperm, it doesn't seem like a good idea to try without meds. The doctors are also telling me that at this point, every month "counts" and that I can't afford to wait. I wish I had a better chance.
  • EbbieEbbie Posts: 40
    emg,
    Why are they telling your your chances are low? Will your insurance cover any of this? My insurance covered at least the u/s and blood draws. Yes, the meds are very costly, but if you call freedom pharmacy, they have a program which pays about 50% of gonal f if you don't use insurance. Still very expensive, but give it a chance the first round and see.....with my IUI's, I required less days of meds each cycle so that was helpful.
  • emg40emg40 Posts: 35
    Ebbie,
    My chances are low based on my age and numbers. Unfortunately, my insurance won't cover anything related to fertility. Thanks for the name of the pharmacy--I will see if I can find it.
  • BanditBandit Posts: 348
    emg have you looked for supplemental insurance. There maybe some out there that will cover the fertility treatments.
  • austingurlaustingurl Posts: 202
    Talk to your dr. When I was getting started my insurance did not cover anything. I have PCOS though, so my dr billed a lot of my initial tests and ultrasounds under my PCOS diagnosis instead of a fertility diagnosis. Since we were looking at my PCOS to determine if I ovulate and it's effect on my hormones levels, then insurance paid for that. If you have other health issues, you might get some of the initial testing covered by billing under those issues. It doesn't cover a lot, but every test you don't have to pay for helps. We monitored my cycle for 3 months trying to see if I ovulate. Since I don't ovulate due to PCOS, all those tests and scans were paid under the PCOS diagnosis.
  • Tomigrl5Tomigrl5 Posts: 132
    I borrowed against my 401k. I had no coverage. I knew that if I could not conceive in 4 tries, my options were up. As it is the 2 IUI's I did cost me $9000, which is nothing to hold your beautiful child. But I could not forsee putting myself into major debt. But thats just me, you have to decide how bad you want it...
  • BanditBandit Posts: 348
    Tomi, how come your 2 IUI's cost 9K. Is that for the medication? I am just curious about the costs, as mine was like 500 bucks for everything but the sperm.
  • MsMaryTMsMaryT Posts: 54
    I completely agree with Tomi that you need to see what works for you and set a budget that supports it at the beginning. Every test etc you can get covered helps and you need to do the work to see where you can get a little more to give you an additional time/ tries. This is an emotional roller coaster itself and I didn't want to face financial stress with each cycle etc so setting a budget at the beginning gave me room to focus on other things.

    Anissa, my IUI it self was 650 for the procedure but then you add sonograms and meds and its up to 1750. Plus this cycle we did 2 IUIs back to back and i had additional testing not covered by insurance so it was over 2900 not including sperm or acupuncture.
  • emg40emg40 Posts: 35
    Thank you again for all the suggestions. My doctor did help me out with my initial appointment, which would have cost $600, by billing differently. I don't think he can do that beyond this point, though.

    I have set a budget--which sadly will probably only allow me to do 3 IUIs. I will be using a credit card, so I am worried about having the debt. However, dipping into my savings (which isn't much) isn't an option, since I would need that money if I ever did have a baby. I want a baby desperately, but this all seems so confusing and difficult--especially going the road alone.
  • MsMaryTMsMaryT Posts: 54
    It sounds like you are doing all the right things emg!
  • EbbieEbbie Posts: 40
    My IUI's were very costly (at least 5K each for meds mostly) and it would be so nice to have insurance to cover as we all need those funds for if we have a baby! emg, did you have success contacting Freedom Pharmacy? They are based out east. If you have no insurance, you can still get the gonal f at like 50% off.
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