IVF - How do you afford it?

[Aimz]

I've been looking into the costs of IVF/ICSI as this may be a road we need to travel down (whole other thread!). I was just wondering if people would be willing to share how they came up with the money to go through with the procedures. From my reading I am guessing you need to pay the full amount up front (up to $10K for ICSI and PGD) however you get most of this back through medicare and private health. So how did everyone come up with the initial fee?

Did you save up?

Did you borrow the money?

Did you redraw against your home?

I understand this is a very personal question but I'd like to be able to go back to DH with some experiences from other couples. TIA for your replies.

[JBM]

we did ICSI and it didn't cost us that much. we had some cash saved and medicare are really promt in giving you the money back, out of pocket it cost us about $ 2,500 all up. which wasn't too bad. but we saved up some cash first. hope you can work it out soon .good luck

[Kitt3n]

hun - HUGS!

dont stress about this till you know!

my friends saved up most of it and put it intot heir mortgage as an advance payment, ready to pull out when they can go for it.

[AngelPunks]

when we were looking at it, we were told we only had to pay the amount NOT covered by Medicare / Private Health - so basically the "out of pocket" & that was due the day we started - because of what we needed to do with ICSI that was about $3k. We were told we didn't have to cover everything, even though the invoice was for the full amount, the clinic would deal with Medicare / Private Health and do the claims directly to them on our behalf.

Each clinic has its own proceedures/policies with regard to this, so I'd talk to your clinic to see what they expect.

Also we were told to register for the Medicare Safety Net.

[TaRhLi.]

Hi Amysarah

Best thing to do is get some idea of the costs from the clinc you will be going to. Some of the girls in NSW spend up to $10k for an IVF/ICSI cycle.

Not sure where you are based, but a lot of clinics have extremely different fees schedules.

I'm doing my IVF in Ballarat VIC and my upfront cost for a my first cycle was just over $3k, which we paid for on Credit Card and with the medicare rebate (make sure you are registered for the Safety Net) I think our out of pocket was about $1,200. We have now done our first FET transfer at a cost of $1,060 and once we get our medicare rebate (80% because we over the Safety Net threshold) we will be out of pocket about $250.

Although we elected to go through Ballarat instead on in Melbourne because the Melbourne costs were higher than we have paid.

I think we are fortunate as with both myself & DH working and the time between our 2 cycles 3 months, we were more than able to repay our OOP for our first cycle way before we did the FET and with our OOP now, I would spend more than $250 in a shopping spree, so not much financial hardship there.

Hope you fidn a good clinic that suits your needs and that you are able to afford your journey towards motherhood.

[Nyrad]

Hi Amy,

We increased our mortgage to redraw on the funds which was cheaper than using a higher interest credit card and we would pay back into it with the medicare refunds. It turned out we did 4 cycles (1 fresh, 3 frozen, pregnant on the last fet). If we had tried to save we wouldn't have been able to do the back to back cycles. Once you reach the safety threshold the cost is not too bad either.

This way the cost was off our mind and we could be stressfree (financially) whilst going thru the cycles.

All the best.

[barney]

hey hun best of luk to you in your journey.
we were going through sivf newcastle and it was costing us nearly $7000 but are now going through westmead fertility and were only paying $ 1450 for ivf 0r $1700 for icsi as they are a non profit org
so im not sure were you live but were from nambucca heads on the mid north coast and we travel 13hrs every time cause we dont care it still saves us money ..
as for the saving bit my dh just really works hard and we just save up till we get the $1400 buks and go again
the first though my dh (god love him) had to sell hi much loved boat but had not problem in doing it lol we just needed the money bad..
good luk with your journey at first i was so so worried about the money i was freaking out as i didnt know how we would ever come up with it but we got there and i hope you do to hunny
let us no how you go ok

[{sarah}]

We refinanced the homeloan to cover it. All the costs went onto the credit card, we refinanced then used the money to pay off the credit card.... Got lots of points that month LOL!

[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.

[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 ..

[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.

[Muppity]

Hi Amy

I am with SIVF. I actually got a letter from them the other day and and they now don't require upfront payment. So it makes saving a whole lot easier. But I am not sure if this is the case with PGD as well (I don't have the letter with me - but I am guessing it would be for everything that they offer)

But in answering your original question. We paid the whole thing (ICSI $9200ish) on our credit card and Medicare tell me that the money will be in my account in the next couple of days so I will be able to pay most of it off using that and then we will pay the rest with savings (about 2500).

Just as an aside - DH is very happy that we get double points any time we spend over $10K in a month so the IVF equals almost exactly that icecream maker I said he couldn't get! (This is me trying to find positives in all this!)

Lets hope that your tests come back negative and all this research has been for nothing for you.

[dusty]

Good question AS.

I am with SIVF. I actually got a letter from them the other day and and they now don't require upfront payment. So it makes saving a whole lot easier.

I just got that letter too and was really surprised seeing the one exactly a year before was about the up front rates going up by over 20%.

Muppity can I ask has SIVF Canberra clinic got the private health insurance cover now so the day treatment procedures can be billed direct to your PHI? A year ago when the new facility was build, the day procedures had to be paid up front ($1000+/$500+ for EPU and ET respectively) with little or no PHI coverage, as they hadn't been approved by any of the PHI at that time (which they didn't tell anyone about before the procedures).

BTW the letter does mention the cost will go up in November with the new Medicare rates announced then. The cynic in me wonders how much more they will aim to charge now with this new system...

To answer your question AS, we use our Credit Card and hope we can get the rebate before it the CC payment is due and interest is charged.

[Muppity]

Good question AS.



I just got that letter too and was really surprised seeing the one exactly a year before was about the up front rates going up by over 20%.

Muppity can I ask has SIVF Canberra clinic got the private health insurance cover now so the day treatment procedures can be billed direct to your PHI? A year ago when the new facility was build, the day procedures had to be paid up front ($1000+/$500+ for EPU and ET respectively) with little or no PHI coverage, as they hadn't been approved by any of the PHI at that time (which they didn't tell anyone about before the procedures).

BTW the letter does mention the cost will go up in November with the new Medicare rates announced then. The cynic in me wonders how much more they will aim to charge now with this new system...

Dusty - apparently the new rates in Nov will just reflect any increase in Medicare rates - so the out of pocket won't really change.

They have sorted out arrangements with almost all of the PHIs - except Medibank (which is of course who I am with!). It lists the ones that they now have arrangements with on their web site somewhere from memory - otherwise the girls at reception can tell you. HTH