We canceled my husband's second opinion with a urologist and we had great reasons why. IF for some reason the first guy missed a varicocele and we had surgery it would be around $8,000. Well the surgery can help 60% of men and then half of them go onto father a child naturally so 8k for a 30% chance. In our minds that money can go towards IVF which is our only option due to his sperm count. I have been talking to ARC and have put a call into our RE to see what the next step is. I know that they want me to be on birth control for a month before we start the protocol and AF should be here next week. I'm not going to lie, I am excited but terrified.
ARC has given me the below prices (which doesn't include medication BTW)
* One-cycle plus - $11,455.74 (one fresh one frozen cycle of IVF)
* One-cycle plus with no monitoring = $9,398.56
* Two-cycle plus = $20,072.21 (2 fresh 2 frozen)
* Two-cycle plus no monitoring = $16,489.72
* Three-cycle plus - $26,914.94 (3 fresh 3 frozen)
* Three-cycle plus no monitoring = $22,146.31
As I have mentioned before Kansas is not a mandatory state and so my insurance doesn't cover treatment. The nurse practitioner said that they might pay for some of the treatment totally 3k but we can't go in with that mindset. They gave us a price of around 15k/IVF which would be in range with the One-cycle plus with medication costs. But in my mind I feel like we need to do the Two-cycle plus in fear it won't work the first time. Since I will be 38 in November I only qualify to get a portion of our money back if no take home baby but only with the Three-cycle plus. UGH.
So basically if we do the Two or Three-cycle and get pregnant the first time it is going to cost us a ton more money. But if we do the One-cycle plus and don't get pregnant it is going to cost us a ton more money to do it twice. WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO???
Oh my gosh I remember this point in treatment so well. It was such a hard decision and all the research I did suggested ivf usually take three cycles to be successful. We didn't have the money for the refund program with Attain, so instead decided to go with the Two Fresh, Two Frozen cycles. Playing the odds that a pregnancy would come out of four cycles! I highly recommend to research the hell out of this. Check on success rates with your clinic for people your age. Talk to your doctor, talk to friends, look at your fiances and make the most informed decision possible.
ReplyDeleteper my clinc and SART age 38-40 is 53% success with fresh transfers. Trust me I have a spreadsheet and a binder!
DeleteOh man, I almost wrote this exact post about a year ago. We went through ARC too. I was 28 when we started so I was tempted to do the 1 fresh 1 frozen but then I was tempted by the 3 fresh 3 frozen. I figured that if we did SIX IVFS and got some $ back then we could use it towards adoption. We ended up going with 2 fresh 2 frozen. I was told we had a 70% chance the first time...it took 3 tries for us to be pregnant now and I haven't given birth yet.
ReplyDeleteLong story short, if I could do it all over again, I would have bought the 3 and 3. I figured that at the end of the day, if $26k gave me a child (even on the first try) I would be ok and it would be "worth" it. We are far from rich but personally the 2 fresh 2 frozen was hard for me because after 2 failed I started realizing I might have no baby and no refund. It's a hard decision but that's my two cents!! good luck.
Thank you Holly! Every little bit of input helps. I double checked with my insurance today and found out they won't pay one cent.
ReplyDeletegrrr. Ours wouldn't pay a cent either. The annoying thing was I have really good insurance with Kaiser (their highest plan) and they paid 50% of infertility that they treated in clinic (monitoring and IUIs). I asked if I could be monitored there and have the images sent, they denied it. they won't touch Ivf. It's so cruel I think. I know in Europe they pay IvF for anyone who needs it for their 1st child. this seems so fair. we get to the point where we "just want ONE." Sigh. Praying for you guys to make the best decision for you!! :)
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