Okay, I’m in a slightly better frame of mind today about this whole TTC mess, but I just wanted to expound a bit on my frustration with feeling like I’m going to drive my husband and I crazy while trying to pay the daily bills AND pay to hopefully have a child.
I am an IF who has just completed 1 yr of TTC insured with an additional maternity rider, albeit insurance my husband and I had to purchase ourselves for $400/month becauce we both work for small companies and neither of our jobs provide benefits (total cost to us = nearly $5000/year). That being said, I 100% believe in the importance of health insurance, but I also 100% believe that our system is BROKEN and anyone who is against health care reform is out of their freaking minds.
I vented about it a little back here in January (mainly focused on what it would cost us to birth a child – not even conceive!), but the breakdown is this – we both work full time, we are both healthy people, we both pay our bills and have insurance, yet we still are required to pay for nearly everything out of pocket when it comes to infertility (even for diagnostic work!) since we are not living in one of the 13 states that requires IF coverage.
As of 7/19/2010 – 1 yr of TTC copays with insurance: $1475
HPTs & OPKs: $183 (hopefully this will go down now that I temp more and test less)
Pre-natal vitamins / herbs / TTC books / Clomid / etc. : $245
Acupuncture: $370 (which I just started recently – a full year of this would cost me roughly $3,000)
Diagnostic Bloodwork, ultrasound, & Hubby’s SA: $677
Honestly, I know that $1500 isn’t that much in the scheme of things, but it petrifies me to think that I’ve never even met with an R.E., much less tried IUIs, injectibles, or IVF… and those are the costs that will begin to add up much more quickly into the 10s of thousands. Oh how I hope it doesn’t get to that for us. *sigh*
Please check out this awesome article from Fertility Lab Insider about IF & insurance companies.
Infertility as a covered insurance benefit
I know I’m not alone in my frustration with this, but HFS, things need to change!!
We all need to play the lottery more. Or something.Deep breaths, dear. And I'm just a phone call away if you need something.
Amen sister! I thought I might have found a glimpse of hope after looking at my husband's work website about IF coverage, only to be shot down on everything when I called. The thing that gets me is that spending this crazy amount of money doesn't guarantee us a baby in the end. If there were guarantees, I wouldn't complain one bit. But there's not…so I'm complaining.
@Bradshaw – The lottery would definitely be helpful. :)@Steph – yeah, exactly. It's just crazy to think you can spend 10s of thousands of dollars on this and NOT end up with a baby in the end…or you can go the adoption route, but that also takes years and 10s of 1000s….and so many ppl get knocked up who don't want to be.
It is extremely frustrating. That was one of my main reasons for not doing the Clomid when the dr. first recommended it. She said she would do the hormone blood work after each clomid cycle and when I saw the bill the first time around, almost $1,000, which was covered by insurance because it was filed under some sort of diagnosis instead of IF stuff. But that scared the crap out of me. Paying for 3 rounds of tests out of pocket was too prohibitive. Still between acupuncture and everything else I think we've spent at least $800 trying it the natural way. One way or another getting pregnant is extremely expensive. It makes perfect business sense why insurance companies don't cover IF treatment. That would be them advocating to spend more of their profit because eventually you will have a kid. By not covering IF they are making more money off of you. It sucks and it's dirty, but unfortunately that is life. I am all for healthcare reform. Just not Obamacare. I want the universal healthcare that government officials and their families will be on. If it isn't good enough for them, it isn't good enough for me.
@Natalie – take a look at the blog I linked to. She does a great job presenting why all of the research shows that it would actually SAVE companies $$ if they ALL covered IF b/c of the drop in pre-mies & multiples in the NICU, etc.
I hear ya. I am in one of those states that require fertiilty insurance coverage BUT it comes with stipulations and one of them is you must have a certain number of full time employess which sadly Josh's boss doesn't have so we dont apply to that rule. Money and no insurance coverage is the main reason why we haven't tried a clomid or IUI. I hope it gets better for you guys and who knows maybe a reform is coming.
I hear ya. I just passed a year TTC a few months ago and not even counting HPTs/OPKs, vitamins and supplements, I've spent $3000+ and haven't seen an RE yet either. Some of that is treatments, some is the D&C, HSG, all stuff because of the ectopic. My insurance plan has a $2500 deductible – once it's met, everything is covered 100%, oh EXCEPT fertility treatments. That means we still pay out of pocket for ultrasounds, clomid, and diagnostics for all that stuff.
Isn't it a fucking joke? We spent everything out of pocket and for just our single cycle that resulted in a BFP (thank god) we spend over $4000. I blame my stupid male dominated, asian-owned, cheap ass employer but still, I know I'm not alone. But the icing on the cake. After hearing the heartbeat yesterday I allowed myself to request info on my maternity leave benefits – guess what they are? ZERO. A BIG FAT FUCKING ZERO. Yes, this will require a post of my own and I don't need to rant on your page. Ahem.
Ugh, like I said, I know the $1500 we've spent isn't so awful…I'm just petrified of what that ## will be if we're still TTC for another year (or more). Baby steps… I know… let tomorrow worry about itself.
The money it can take to have a child is absolutely obnoxious! I hope that things will happen for you very soon!!
It is not easy to keep handing over money when at the end of a cycle you don't even have anything to show for it. My first RE was terrible at billing us on time and our first 2 IUI cycles we were billed after the fact (when I already knew I wasn't pregnant from them) which made it even harder to pay the bills. This is one of the many reasons I have switched RE's. Wishing for you that you don't have to have the expenses of more aggressive treatments.
It is very frustrating that some women that deal with IF have to go into debt just to have a child!!
The money we put out is ridiculous! Hugs!!
You are definitely not alone in the frustration. I know that I am lucky that my insurance will pay for one IVF. I'm scared of having to do FET if IVF doesn't work. The cost is major and so stress inducing.
You are definitely not alone in the frustration. I know that I am lucky that my insurance will pay for one IVF. I'm scared of having to do FET if IVF doesn't work. The cost is major and so stress inducing.
A bottle of jager is like $25. If I look back on how many of these I've purchased over the past ten years. I could totally pay for your child. Man, I'm sorry I didn't think ahead.xoxo
I wrote to our state reps and voiced my concerns that IF wasn't required to be covered in insurance. I heard back from them too and they said they would keep my letter in mind when they discussed it later this year.I think if enough people voice their opinions in letters and movements, they'll pay more attention. 🙂
First off, I am SO SORRY for this. I wish I could snap my fingers and you'd be pregnant. I'm so sorry… I am so sensitive to you and this situation — my husband and I were right there with you.Secondly, you're right.You're absolutely right.Trying to make a baby in the U.S. is crazy-expensive. There's something definitely wrong with a system that pays for all the babies of all of the women who don't plan for them or necessarily want them; but won't give those women a hand who will promise to take DAMN good care of the babies THEY want.I will say that in Mexico, fertility treatments are ridiculously affordable. (I didn't know this when I was TTC baby #1… Instead, I went back and forth to the States to see my RE and spent more money than we would have preferred.)Anywho, in a phenomenal clinic right over in Mexico City (a regular-old, MAJOR city – a world center) you can get 3 rounds of IVF for $6,500 USD. I'm serious. And it's not even in a back-alley, dirty, sketchy place. It's in a hospital. Just like what you'd expect in the U.S. A person I know is doing this and the car she has received has been INCREDIBLE. And, women from all of the world attend this facility.The disparity between U.S. costs and costs EVERYWHERE else in the world in order to conceive is INSANE. The medical industry, specifically the fertility industry, should feel pangs of guilt for all that they're putting women through — but I guess they're too busy rolling in their money.(Sorry for the length of this post, all this to say – I get it. And you're SO right. And this all really sucks.)
*meant "care" – not "car" above.
Ugh, I don't even want to tell you what I have payed so far this year with nothing to show for it. It sucks.