Since being told we were looking at IVF in the next year, and then being told that our insurance won't cover any of it, I've been keeping my eyes and my mind open to ways that we can scrape together the funds for it. We have no real savings. What little money we do have put aside is earmarked for the tax bill (self-employment has its down sides and the tax bill is a big one). All spare cash that comes in is going straight to paying off debts like student loans, credit cards and back taxes (see previous comment on self-employment down sides). We have some equity in the house, but adding more debt really doesn't seem like a sound plan of action.
So what can we do, short of begging our parents for help (which would only be a last resort)?
First and foremost, I will max out my FSA contribution this coming year. Providing I have leftover meds from the next and final IUI, then the FSA will cover most of the remaining cost of one round of IVF. One. Round. And my paychecks will be reduced by a terrifying amount for the entire year. I am so scared of the possibility of the Professor having a month or two when the contract work isn't paying out and having to figure out how to pay our regular bills on my greatly reduced income. My income alone isn't enough to cover our expenses as it stands, but with that level of decrease... well, it's just frightening. It's still not a brilliant plan, but it's a start.
*Updated: I just realized that by January, our back taxes and my student loans will be all paid off! Those payments total about half of the monthly salary reduction I'll see from maxing out the FSA. Things just got a little less scary!
In an effort to find some other solution, I started looking around and found the following non-profits that offer grants for IVF or adoption assistance. They are all for US citizens only as far I can tell, but other parts of the world must have similar resources where the health care systems don't fill the need. I'm going to create a Resource page and add these there, but if you know of others, let me know so I can add them as well!
INCIID IVF Scholarships
Tinina Q. Cade Foundation
Fertile Dreams
Parenthood for Me
NYS Infertility Demo Program (varies by clinic)
*B.U.M.P.S. Inc.
More options and suggestions from Resolve.
Another one I found when I was researching this was Bumps, Inc. (www.yourbump.org). Looks like they give out about 5 grants per year.
ReplyDeletePlease let me know if you will be using Follistim because I have a lot of it left that my sister (she was our egg donor) didn't use. I would be happy to donate some to some what elevate the cost of meds. I wish I could do more.
ReplyDeleteI was going to recommend grants as well and all of the ones I know are on your list.
Wishing you all the best. *hugs*
Well, I don't really have any advice for this area of things, but I wanted to say a "Heck yeah!" for paying off student loans! that must be a giant relief!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know much either but I'm having a similar sort of panic. We get our first cycle free (on the UK NHS system) and we have just about enough money to pay for a second. After that, who knows but we're keeping positive.
ReplyDeleteWell done on paying off the student loan!
I am right at the same spot! We are going to max out our FSA and donate half of my eggs at the same time which reduces the price by 50%. I have called about 10 clinics about their trials. Go to www.clinicaltrials.gov and you may get lucky and get some help. Some cycles are fully covered! Some are partially covered. Some don´t even exist! but it´s worth the try.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!!
Here from LFCA. I don't know if you've already tried this, but can you talk to your clinic about reducing the costs? My clinic has "compassionate meds" for some clients where they help to alleviate the cost of the medications, and I was able to donate all of my leftover meds to that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my f/s gave us a 30% discount on our second IVF cycle as he knew that we were running out of options and that the price tag was just getting too high. He was amazingly compassionate.
I would venture it's worth asking- the worst they can say is no!
Best of luck, and congrats on paying off the student loans!
T.