IVF: Let's Talk Numbers

I think that it's important to broach all the aspects of infertility, and the financial aspect is a huge component. The already difficult emotions that come with infertility are compounded by all the emotions that come with the financial burden of continuous procedures.

Hopefully this is information that can help others who have no experience with infertility and its burdens gain a little bit more insight into the world of infertility.

I feel like when people talk about IVF they say it's expensive and leave it at that. It is totally expensive, but that's still a relative word. And in the world of infertility, the price can vary depending on your reason for needing it and your specific treatment plan.

When thinking we were going to move forward with IVF, all I wanted was to find something somewhere that gave price ranges and options to gain a little perspective on what "expensive" meant. I am here to give you that perspective. It's based off of our personal need/situation so keep that in mind.

There are lots of reasons why people don't share this info. A big one for some is not wanting criticism in how they are spending their money, because maybe they don't have much (or maybe they have plenty) and this could be looked at as a waste of money. Or maybe they've gotten negative feedback from family members or friends (who have never been through infertility) about what type of fertility treatment they are pursuing and they just don't want people to know they're moving forward with it.

Some people just don't talk finances and others are maybe embarrassed or overwhelmed. Others are just too busy or stressed to even care about officially sharing. I'm not sure of all the reasons, but thankfully, we haven't experienced any of the negative reasons--we have the most supportive friends and family.

Below are our pricing sheets. The first is the regular clinic pricing. We would have qualified for the self pay pricing since our insurance (and most) only covers diagnostics for infertility. The Attain IVF program prices are specific to us, but let me tell you, they are some of the lowest numbers you'll see! We really did luck out (it was because of prayers, really) by making it into the lowest bracket of pricing. And for being the lowest, it's still a crazy amount.

After getting info on the cycle and program fees, we learned about how much our medicines would cost. Our pricing is on the low end again because my response to previous medicines has been good so we were prescribed lower doses, thus cutting down on cost (and because our pharmacy consultant got us a ton of discounts). But the average is anywhere from $3,000-$6,000. 

There is also a price sheet we have somewhere for each frozen transfer (if you're lucky enough to have any embryos left to freeze) and that was $2,900 for the cycle fee, plus about $1,500 in medicines. 

Each. Time. 

That adds up fast if it doesn't work first try. IVF definitely can work the first try, but for most people it takes more than one whole cycle (which includes all the stimming, retrieval, fertilization, and transfer of all embryos, fresh and frozen).  And since we know from experience that getting pregnant doesn't always end in a baby, we decided to go with the 2 cycle package since it includes the cycle fees for all frozen transfers. 

So including the cycle package, meds, and anesthesia, our grand total is $17,227. !!!!!!!! amirite?!

So how are we paying for this, you ask? Well, Dillon is a money guy. We have been saving over the last few years to buy a house when the market crashed again, only to find out now that it's not a bubble this time, but rather a trend and prices will keep going up because Utah is booming. Cool. But that means we have a decent amount of savings. 

We were trying to figure out ways to keep our savings as high as possible, so Dillon sold his car last weekend for $8,500. Nice, right? We have also been selling stuff like crazy on the yard sale groups on facebook and have had a ton of success with that, making around $450 total. We kept praying that people who needed the things we were selling would find our posts. I think it worked ;)

So that brought us down to $8,327 left to pay. Then we redeemed all our credit card cash back rewards and interest yields from our different savings accounts which then brought our total down to $6,777, woo! Dillon is super proud of this part and all the free money we won from cash back rewards and high interest returns. 

Then, after selling a few more bigger items and using our $1000 emergency savings fund we made it all the way down to $5,227 left. And since we put it on a new credit card (with rewards, of course), but with 0% interest for the first six months we will pay the remainder off in that time frame. If needed, we could just pay it off using savings but we are keeping it liquid just in case something magical happens in the housing market. If only! 

Dillon also wanted me to mention that currently we are only buying milk and then using up all the other food we have in our pantry and freezer. That makes for some weird meals, but Dillon is thrilled because he enjoys interesting concoctions. 

What we've been really grateful for are all the ways we feel we've been (hashtag?) blessed through figuring out the financial aspect of this process. The thing is, most people aren't this lucky and the cost is prohibitive. But we've felt that "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear" really applies to us in this situation. 

We did everything we could and then God increased our efforts in ways that we couldn't even have imagined. We've lived well below our means for a long time preparing for a time when we could buy a house, but now God has made our savings work for IVF and is still blessing us to find ways to keep as much of it as possible for the future. We definitely feel we have been compensated for this trial in amazing ways and we are so grateful.