IVF - How do you afford it?

[Aimz]

Thanks so so much girls - I'm getting heaps of different ideas here!

We would be going through Sydney IVF through their Canberra clinic as they are the closest to us (regional NSW). Can anyone tell me more about their fee structure? From their website they say that there is no upfront cost and then they explain the actual cost and out of pocket cost with a 5 day turn around from medicare. I'm guessing this means we would need the full amount up front?

ETA: SNAP Muppity! You just answered my question!!

[Muppity]

Glad to be of service!

My understanding is that they will now send a bill at the end for the difference between what they charge and what medicare gives them. So they will send the bill with my details straight to medicare and they will pay them the appropriate amount (depending on where I am sitting on the safetynet) and then send me a bill for the rest.

On top of what they quote there is a couple of hundred for drugs and then I haven't had the anethesist bill yet but that will be about $400.

As another aside. If you find that you need to go down this path I am with Simone Campbell in Canberra and I can't say enough nice things about her. She is just the most wonderful person. And the girls at the clinic are great with "out of towners" this morning when I was there there were girls from Griffith and Bega and last time I was in there was a girl from Molong (no sense if privacy with those receptionists - but they are a scream)

[{sarah}]

We got the same letter the other day Muppity, with our fee for embryo storage, can't believe it's been over a year already.

[Muppity]

We got the same letter the other day Muppity, with our fee for embryo storage, can't believe it's been over a year already.

No! That can't be right! Is it really that long. I suppose looking at the photos of Miss J it must be!

Oh yeah Amy - I forgot about the cryo and storage - $600 and something in the first year I think - don't have that with me either.

[Bengal]

Thanks so so much girls - I'm getting heaps of different ideas here!

We would be going through Sydney IVF through their Canberra clinic as they are the closest to us (regional NSW). Can anyone tell me more about their fee structure? From their website they say that there is no upfront cost and then they explain the actual cost and out of pocket cost with a 5 day turn around from medicare. I'm guessing this means we would need the full amount up front?

ETA: SNAP Muppity! You just answered my question!!

I actually rang Melb IVF accounts dept, and got a run down of the fee structure off the accounts lady, she was fantastic, she spent about 15 mins explaining it all, so I knew what I needed. It may be worth calling your clinic accounts dept, and explain where your at ..

[Ellie]

We got a credit card with a $10000 limit with no interest for the first 6 months...only used it for IVF expenses. It worked really well. As soon as the medicare check came in it went straight on the card and the gap was never that huge that we hadn't paid it off before the next cycle. DH and I had a deal that we wouldn't start a cycle until the card was cleared...didn't want any stress! After 6 months we closed the account and looked around at other 'special deals' on cards and managed to avoid a heap of interest that way. Worked for us! Good luck

[briggsy's girl]

we had savings from the sale of my house when i moved in with DH - so we used that, then rebanked the refund amount. since that one, we've done some house reno's (which is what the money was initially for) so we spent that money, and just saved like crazy every cycle - thankfully IUI wasn't as much as IVF

[*MRS M*]

hi
we are going though westmead IVF it is 1450.00 we live in qld so we will be doing a heap of travels
we are getting money from hubbys old job as it closed it's doors so that is paying for ours.

sarah

[Janie71]

Hi,

We did pretty much the same thing as Kelly D. Paid up front on C/C and then refunded from medicare and paid the difference off ourselves. We had one IVF/ICSI cycle that cost about $3,800 up front and we ended up out of pocket about $1,200. It just so happened that at the time that this happened I got an unexpected payment from my private health insurer who were combining with another insurance company and basically giving something back to their clients. Would you believe that this ended up being almost exactly $1,200! Strange how things work.

We then did a FET straight away and that cost about $1,200 up front and because we had gone over our safety net, we ended up out of pocket only about $300. Luckily for us, this was when we got our BFP.

It really does depend on what clinic you go to and also what state you are in.

GL.

Janie xxx

[nic]

We did the same as Ellie, saved some money, got a interest free for 6 months credit card, paid for the cycle, put the refunds on the credit card, and then paid the difference with what we had saved.
We were lucky enough to even have a little left over.

Nic

[butterfly_warrior]

We were slowly saving in a reasonably half-hearted way for a house deposit. That money got redirected to IVF.

We paid cash upfront for each cycle, with the medicare rebates going back into that account. Killing the medicare safety net limit helped heaps, but as our treatment spanned two years we had to do it twice.

From experience - if your treatment is going to go over two calendar years, try to time things so that you have a FET cycle first up to kill the safety net, and then everything else is a whole lot easier. Not awalys possible, but it helped us out a lot at the start of this year to do it that way.

After three stim cycles and three and a half frozen embryo transfers (half because our last embryo failed to thaw) even with the recycling of medicare rebates, we'd depleted the savings and were at the point of having to save like mad to be able to go again. Fortunately, that last transfer took.

Of course, using existing savings is only an option if they exist - but we don't have a mortgage to redraw on (we rent) and really didn't want to get a credit card with a limit high enough to cover our stim cycles as we'd be tempted to use it for other things and then have trouble paying it off. It's all a matter of finding the system that works for you.

BW

[Yvette1278]

Hi everyone

I am currently doing an IVF ISCI treatment.

I paid $3360.00 up front just before I started taking my injections. After my transfer Melbourne IVF sent me an official receipt and I went to medicare. Medicare reimbursed me $2702.00 which left me out of pocket $658.00. If I had private health insurance that covered assisted reproduction then I would of been able to claim a portion of the $658.00 as well. But we didn't.

TIP: You must register for the medicare safety net. The medicare safety net runs from Jan - Dec (Calendar Year) Once you have reached out of pocket expenses of $1048.00 they you automatically receive 80% back from Medicare.

Suggestion: Start your IVF treatment in January. You shoud reach the safetynet after your 1st cycle and if you have to do subsequent cycles at least you get 80% back for the rest of the year.

But if you start now, you will have to be out of pocket $1048.00 or there abouts, before you claim 80% and then start all over again in January.

As someone said above each clinic is different. Best you check with them.

[haleyscomet]

I am sorry you are struggling so much right now and I am praying you dont have to worry about needing IVF but if in the event you do I would definately look at private health cover. I am with HCF and I joined them specifically because of my fertility issues as they have EXCELLENT coverage for this sort of thing. Since we couldnt afford for us both to get top coverage, I have the coverage and will change to a family coverage 2 months prior to birth (when we do get pregnant). Its something to think about and it takes to stress of the financial cost of it all. We did this because a close friend of ours went the IVF route and unfortunately it did not work for them and they used their entire house deposit. Its really through their experience we were able to jump ahead and plan a little bit more. I wish you all the very very best

[CeCe]

We would be going through Sydney IVF through their Canberra clinic as they are the closest to us (regional NSW).

If you will be travelling to Canberra there is also Canberra Fertility Centre to consider. They are close in location to SIVF Canberra. Just a thought if you wanted to look at their fee structure. I was told their fees may be changing in November as that is when medicare release a new schedule. CFC have just recently stopped providing crinone/pessaries at transfer with them having to be purchased now.

[Caramello]

we are going though westmead IVF it is 1450.00

Mrs Mac - is this IVF Australia, Westmead or Westmead Fertility Clinic?

Are you doing IVF or IUI?

The reason I'm asking is that we are going through IVF Australia, Westmead and that cost sounds about right for IUI.

IVF is between $4800 to $5500 for Westmead clinic - more for day surgery etc. You have to pay this upfront.

To answer your question Amy Sarah,

I have instructed the tax department to tax me at the highest tax bracket - this was left over from HECS and I haven't changed it. DH is also taxed at the higher bracket due to HECS as he is currently going to uni. This means we get a return that covers the IVF cycle.

Unfortunately, due to the move, we haven't done our taxes yet, so we have borrowed the money from the bank as a personal loan and will pay it back with the return from Medicare due to the Safety Net (which we've just hit).

[barney]

hey gargy were going through the same clinic as mrs m and its westmead fertility clinic we also pay $1450 for normal ivf or $1750 for a split cycle ivf-icsi there a non for profit organization so heaps cheaper hope this helps
oh and this covers every thing syneral,injections,bt,scans every thing no extras at all and 2 years free cryo storage yay

[lil_chookie]

I just pay for it with the credit card and then put the satey net money on when I get it and transfer the difference from our savings account. We have been doing FET cycles and I don't find us to be that much out of pocket. If this cycle is unsucessful we will get another stim cycle in this year, which is good for us $$ wise. Although I hate having to think of it like that, but it is the reality unfortunately.

[*MRS M*]

thanks smithy for replying
sarah