IVF Insurance Options & Payment Plans for In Vitro Fertilization

IVF Insurance Options & Payment Plans for In Vitro Fertilization - Paying for IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) is difficult, if not impossible, for most families. If you have health insurance, make sure to check with them first to see if they cover any part of IVF - only 10% of insurance companies do cover IVF, (1) but your insurance company could be one of them. If you don't have health insurance or if IVF is not covered by your current insurance company, there are other options.

IVF Scholarship

INCIID is a non-profit organization that actually provides IVF scholarships to help people who can't afford IVF and have no insurance coverage. According to their website, they are the only national company that provides free IVF treatments to those in need. There are several requirements you must meet in order to apply. These include being a donor to their organization - but only $55.00 per year, being a registered member of their community, having financial need - which requires documentation and a letter from your doctor stating that IVF is medically necessary. This sounds like a lot of work, but with the cost of IVF averaging around $10,000, it is worth it if they choose to give your family the scholarship. You should note that preference is given to families with no children and those who are infertile due to a voluntary medical procedure (vasectomy or tubal ligation) are almost never selected. You can find more information at their website: http://www.inciid.org/article.php?cat=&id=239.

Shared risk programs

Some IVF centers offer their patients what is called a "shared risk program" where you pay upfront for the procedure - sometimes at a higher cost than normal - and if it is successful, the clinic keeps the fees.(2) If is not successful, either all or a large portion of the fees are returned to you. That way, you have not lost as much as you would have had you just paid upfront for a failed cycle. Talk with your reproductive endocrinologist about whether they offer this program, making sure to find out how much exactly is returned in the event of a failed cycle.

If your clinic does not offer a shared risk program, you can actually find companies such as IntegraMed who offer a shared risk program. With IntegraMed, you pay for to three IVFs and three FETs (frozen embryo transfer) at a fixed, discounted rate. If you get pregnant on the first or even second treatment cycle, you end up paying more than you might have if you had just paid up front for the procedures, but if you end up doing all six attempts, you have paid much less. Most people are willing to take the risk and pay a bit more because it is worth it to them if they are successful. And if the treatments are unsuccessful, you get 70% of what you paid for a normal IVF back - 100% if it's a donor egg cycle. The biggest catch is that your fertility clinic has to be on their list of providers. Check out their website for more information: http://www.integramed.com/inmdweb/content/cons/shared.jsp or call them at 1-866-YOUR-IVF.

In-office payment plan

Some doctor's offices have an in-office payment plan. Rather than paying upfront for treatment, you enter into a contract with them to pay off the IVF bills in a set amount of time - often a year. Our doctor's office let you do this with no interest, but you had to have it paid off in a year. If at the end of the year, you haven't paid it off, they may charge penalties and/or interest. I know of some people who've put the remaining balance on a low interest credit card to avoid the fees from the doctor's office. Check with your local clinic to see if they have this option. If you know you'll only be doing one or two treatment cycles, this might be a good option. Often, you can do this for the portion not covered by your insurance, if they cover a certain percentage, but not all of the cost of your IVF.

Loans

Consider getting a loan from your bank or other financial institution for your IVF. Your doctor may even have a relationship with a financial institution so that you can get a lower rate. This is similar to the in-office payment plan, but perhaps less risky because you will likely have more time to pay the loan off without penalties.

An important note - save all your receipts for tax returns

During the two years that we did fertility treatments, we made sure to save all our receipts so that we could claim our medical expenses on our tax returns. As of the 2007 tax return season, you could claim whatever part of your medical expenses exceeded 7.5% of your income.(3) This includes mileage to and from doctor's appointments, medication and any tests and procedures performed. However, you can only claim what you paid during the tax year for which you are completing your returns. For example, if you did an IVF in November, but didn't pay for any of it until the following January, you can't claim those expenses until the next time you file. It doesn't matter what year the procedure was actually done; all that matters is when you actually paid for it. Be sure to check the IRS website (www.irs.gov) to see what the rules are for the year you are going to be filing because they are updated with each tax season.

1. http://www.inciid.org/article.php?cat=&id=239

2. http://fertilitylifelines.com/paying/alternatives/risk.jsp

3. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf