If I were a stronger person, I could watch the movie "Juno" about the teen pregnancy. It looked like a good movie until I figured out what it was about. It's a shame I have to segregate myself from certain pieces of art. On the subject of movies, I was very touched last night during the Academy Awards when Daniel Day Lewis, in his acceptance speech for the best actor award, said that he'd been thinking a lot about fathers and sons recently. He dedicated his Oscar to his grandfather (whom he named), father (whom he named), and three sons (whom he named). I loved Daniel Day Lewis plenty for his beauty and talent, but now I have one more reason. We have decided to go for another round of IVF. And this time, we're going to do the "risk sharing program." Too bad we didn't do that the first time. It's $20,000, to be paid up front (and placed in escrow), and not including the medicine and a few other required procedures, like the mock embryo transfer. But we decided that we seem to be in this for the long haul, and having to come up with a separate chunk of money every time was just adding more strain and stress to the misery. We decided that we'd prefer to overpay for a baby than have to scrape tens of thousands together every few months with no sort of a guarantee at all. When we first started this process, the RE told us that we had such a great shot at it that he would advise against the risk sharing program. He said that he was almost sure that we'd get pregnant the first time. Yeah. I feel like so much time has passed since then. So how does one come up with $20,000 in cash? We've been looking at credit cards with introductory low APRs, that would let us write a check for cash and then pay it back gradually. And then I looked at Capital One's Medical Loan program. Their APR ranges from 1.99% to 25.99%, depending on your credit history. I don't think we have enough equity in our house to pay for IVF. Isn't that ridiculous? Isn't it all ridiculous... and unfair? But I've mentioned that before.
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I feel for you...I stacked the medical bills up last year between IVF and 2 surgeries and will be paying them off for awhile. We\'re claiming our medical bills as a deduction on our taxes since it was so much % out of pocket. I angers me that insurance is so spotty in the states that some states don\'t even have to mandate coverage for IF treatments of any kind.
I know! It is rediculous and unfair! We did the shared risk program although our RE advised against it. We were so freaked out about how much it cost, but we charged it to a credit card that had a low interest rate and then got a home equity loan to pay it off...now we\'re paying that off and the running tab I have at the hospital for all of my surgeries as well! My uterus costs us a bunch of money!
Will your insurance pay for any of the drugs? Mine only paid for Lupron and Progesterone and they covered the office visits and ultrasounds.
As for Juno, I went and it was so great, but I don\'t think I could have gone to see it while going through IVF...it still stung and made me cry a lot and hit a lot of sensitive places. Don\'t see it until you are ready, for sure.
My insurance pays for a few of the medications, but we still pay about $2500 for drugs per cycle. All diagnostic office visits and tests are covered by insurance, but once they know what\'s wrong and want to start treating me, I\'m entirely on my own. I wish we had moved to Maryland last year when we bought a house in the DC area, instead of Virginia. IVF Coverage is mandated in Maryland, but not in DC or Virginia. Doh!
We also chose to do a shared risk program. I think it definitely gave us peace of mind knowing we had more than just one attempt at getting pg. It definitely took the pressure off. I hope it works for you this time around. We also financed thru Capital One b/c of no IVF coverage. Yeah....so not fair! Good luck with this cycle!!!
We did the shared risk. We almost paid per attempt because we thought we could get pg on the first or at least the 2nd try. Life is cruel. It took 6 tries. In hindsight, shared risk is the only way to go. It cost us $15k up front and a total of $40k over 4 years with meds and all. It\'s so worth it. You find a way to make it work.
About Juno...I couldn\'t have watched it a year ago, either. I saw it the week before my baby was born and I still cried. It\'s quite emotional for someone who\'s going through infertility and considered adoption. If you do eventually see it, be prepared to hurt and cry.
We didn\'t do the shared risk program, as it turns out of course we should have too. But of course that is in the past now. Wish money wasn\'t such a BIG issue of life, we would all be able to achieve our dreams so much easier. I am very happy that you\'re not giving up on your dream though. Take care of yourself.