Thursday, July 26, 2007

I hate this, but lets talk money.

Here we are again talking about my wonderful infertility issues. Sorry. But I have to vent. We have been fortunate that our insurance has been covering 80% of all our tests and IUIs to this point. But now we have to move onto IVF and our insurance does not cover that. We are looking at two different clinics – Froedtert vs. Advanced Fertility Clinic of IL. We have using Froedtert for our IUI and we like them. They are one of the best hospital in the US. but their success numbers on IVF aren't as high as this clinic in Illinois. When it comes down to money, Froedtert is about $15,000 for one IVF. The Advanced Fertility Clinic has different payment options. One, for example, is you pay for three IVF rounds and there is a guarantee live birth or your money back. Sounds great right? Sure, with a price tag of about $25,000 that we have to pay upfront, if full, before we start.
At this point we are doing a lot of research on both locations, asking many questions, and inquiring input from others who have used both clinics. We have a consult with the Advanced Fertility Clinic (which will set us back $375 paid in full at time of appointment) in a couple weeks and we will meet with Froedtert again to discuss the next steps of IVF. My husband is currently researching the best way to finance IVF. Our plan was to use Capital One's health care finance option with a nice low rate of 1.9% APR but we found out that neither clinic will accept payment from Capital One because of the hidden fees they get hit with from Capital One.
Great.
So yesterday I went into very angry mode. I can get a boat loan from my bank at 6% but if I want a general health care loan I'm looking at 12% APR. I want to scream at insurance companies. I know people who smoke, are obese, don't exercise and just don't take care of themselves yet insurance is paying for all their health issues but I can't get any insurance if I want a baby? (Please, don't tell me to vote for Hillary and her idea of new health care because if that would be the case I wouldn't have the option of what clinic I could even to go.) Sure, we could lower our 401k investments, our IRA's and stop saving money for the hospital bills that we will accumulate when (and if) we have a baby, but that just drives me crazy. We pay a lot of money just to have health insurance and my husband's company pays outrageous money just for us to have insurance but the one time that I need it we don't get it. Or how about a trade off? You get $20,000 for fertility treatments, not limiting us to just IUIs. If that would be the case, we would have skipped IUIs and gone right to IVF. Why is it so limited? WHY CAN'T I GET ANY COVERAGE!
OK, I'm done. I just needed to vent about my frustration with insurance coverage, costs of infertility treatments and the fact that I will be on a mission to make more people aware this problem.
UGH.

5 comments:

ptg said...

ugh....again, working in the health care field, there are so many times that the insurance we have is inadequate and doesn't cover the things that it should. I'm so sorry you have to deal with all this.

Erin said...

How awful. :( Life is so very unfair that so many young women have babies by accident that they can't take care of, but then someone who truly wants a baby and can take care of it can't have one. I just do not understand it.

And wow, that's a lot of money. As always, you're in my prayers. Keep us posted.

Anonymous said...

That is so unfair and wrong in so many ways. I know you and I don't know each other but you are definitely in my prayers. I can't begin to imagine how frustrating this is for you.

Also, for what it's worth, I would never tell anyone to vote for Hillary.

Anonymous said...

Hey now, Hillary isn't all that bad :-)

I thought for sure #3 would work. Good Luck with the next step, T.

carmilevy said...

It's an important mission, and an important issue. I admire your courage in raising it.

Living in Canada, we wrestle with similar issues. We have nationalized health care, but it's got holes large enough to drive a truck through, and the debates here rage as roughly as they do south of the border.

Also, IVF and similar treatments are not covered by our system.

You are a courageous, righteous person, and I know that such goodness will ultimately bear fruit. I have to believe that good things happen to good people.