FET's & Safety Net

[Megan]

Can anyone tell me if your FET's have ever counted towards your Medicare Safety net?
My accounts have been rejected saying they are not covered. I did 2 FET's earlier this year, costing me over $1000 but Medicare say they don't count and my out of pocket for this year so far is only $300. I'm confused. Have looked at various IVF sites that say FET is covered by the safety net.

[butterfly_warrior]

Megan, that's really odd. My FET was certainly covered by the safety net, I was only out of pocket a little under $200 for it after paying nearly $1000 to the clinic. Sounds like it would be worth asking questions of your clinic and medicare to find out why they aren't covered. Good luck getting it all sorted out.

BW

[Megan]

Thanks BG. It's so frustrating. I have been having issues with medicare lately. They read what is on their screen in front of them. It's right no matter what. My accounts have been rejected because they aren't covered. End of story.
So, I guess I will be on the phone to Monash on Monday to find out what to do. Seeing as I have a big invoice to lodge soon, I want to make sure I get back what I'm supposed to.

ETA. I decided to try my luck and see if I got someone a bit more helpful at medicare. Luckily I did. She told me that it might be to do with item numbers. If Monash havent put the right item numbers on the account then it will be rejected. Looking at the account, there are no item numbers just a description. So hopefully this is the problem and I can get it all sorted out next week.

[Visitor9]

Meagan,
MIVF are covered MC safety net with FET's. So I would be asking for sure....good luck
Bec

[Ellie]

Gosh I'm glad I read this...didn't even think to check if FET was covered as the clinic never mentioned it when they gave me my receipt for $800...so I could get 80% of that back??? Cool...thanks girls...I'll be looking into it too!!!!

[MantaRay]

Megan, I know nothing about IVF, but it sounds like it should be covered. Maybe you could ask the IVF clinic if they got the item numbers right? I had trouble once when they put the wrong item number on one of Jack's bills and I was told I couldn't claim it as they'd already paid out of the same thing on the same day. I was able to get another invoice with the right invoice number on it and that got paid.

[melbel]

I do know from recent experience that in hospital procedures are not covered by the safety net so if you are having your FET as a day patient or whatever they won't cover it. But that seems unlikely as it is a doctors chair procedure...I would definitely push for the item numbers.

[Megan]

Yep, I will definitely be calling the clinic on Monday. I think it must definitely be the item number that is causing the problem.
An FET cycle is classed as an out of hospital expense. It's just the hospital fee for the actual transfer which I pay separately that is not covered (unless you have PHI). From looking at various websites, there are only a few things not covered and dont count towards the safety net....freezing & storage fees, embryo biopsy are the main ones I remember.

[Cherie]

I never ended up going ahead with my FET, but it was going to be covered by Medicare/the safety net. Compared with a fresh IVF cycle, I was only going to be out of pocket about $300 (and that was before I'd hit the safety net, just regular medicare rebate).

[sushee]

All my FETs were covered by the safety net too, Megan.