The cost of IVF

We don't know each other. We are never going to know each other. I like communities and I like to connect with other people. But my blog is really just a way for me to record the details and my thoughts and feelings on this journey that I am on. My fondest hope is to one day look back on this blog as a closed chapter in my life. I strive to beat infertility--one way or the other. I know it is changing me, my relationships, and how I view the world. But I refuse to let my life become only about my infertility.

So with my anonymity I am going to detail the cost of my upcoming IVF. Of course you don't know my clinic or what part of the United States that I live in but in exchange for that anonymity you get to know the nitty gritty breakdown of this whole process. I know that I would have loved to have found a breakdown like this when I was Googling like a mad women for information.

Before we get to the numbers, I should tell you I have Cigna HMO insurance. They won't pay for IVF but they will pay for some of the incidentals of testing and office visits. I am going to mark with a * what we have been told our insurance will cover. Everything else is coming out of our own pocket. This information is coming off an estimate sheet provided specifically for me from my clinic.

Chart review 116.00
Education 100.00
*Comprehensive Exam 230.00
*Complete ultrasound 309.00
*Office visits (3 @ 230 each) 690.00
*Trial embryo transfer 60.00
*Ultrasounds (4 @ 170 each) 680.00
*Venipunctures (4 @ 15 each) 60.00
*Estadiols (4 @ 80 each) 320.00
*Progesterone level 90.00

Now for the actual retrieval & transfer (none of this is covered by insurance). . .

Egg retrieval 1,030.00
Ultrasound guidance 300.00
Embryo transfer 325.00
Ultrasound guidance 175.00

The lab cost (also not covered by insurance). This is listed under optional services, so I am not sure exactly which of these I will be using for my IVF.

Insemination of oocytes 150.00
Oocyte identification from follicular fluid 375.00
Sperm isolation 275.00
Culture of oocytes day 1-3 1000.00
Extended culture of oocytes days 4-7 425.00
Preparation of embryo for transfer 250.00

Assisted hatching 670.00
ICSI 2,000.00
Cyropreservation of embryos 550.00
Embryo storage per year 450.00

The actual retrieval and transfer will take place at a surgery center separate from my fertility clinic. (It is the same expensive, high tech place that I had my 2nd HSG done at.)

Facility and anesthesia at surgery center 2,590.00

And last but not least, the unknown of cost of medication. Only an estimate. . .

Medications through pharmacy 3,500.00

All of the above procedures have different CPT codes associated with them, so I didn't accidentally double state anything like ultrasounds. They are all listed with seperatly and with different cost.

All said and done, I think I am looking at $13,611.00 (the small difference between this number and adding everything straight up is co pay amounts for the office visits.) out of pocket for the total IVF, including medications, all the "optional" lab services (assuming I have a 5 day transfer), with ICSI but without assisted hatching, and assuming I have embryos to freeze.