Infertility Insurance Costs and Considerations
Infertility insurance is best purchased prior to learning of infertility difficulties. Otherwise as a preexisting condition it may not be cost effective to spend the money on the insurance unless the costs are underwritten by an employer. However if you choose to purchase insurance in time or through a work benefit plan it can vastly reduce the amount of money paid in attempting to treat the issues.
Consider one of the most commonly recognized remedies for infertility: in vitro fertilization. The process involves the removal of eggs from the ovaries of a donor female, and sperm from a male donor. If that sounds simple and inexpensive, well…it seldom is. In vitro fertilization often includes multiple attempts, drug treatments to increase egg production, sometimes similar treatments to increase sperm production.
Eggs have to be held until implanted in the womb of a woman who will carry the eggs to term, and to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy at least 2 eggs are often implanted. The cost of IVF rises rapidly, and any cycle may prove unsuccessful, leading to a repeat cycle. If success is achieved post implantation care of mother and embryo may follow. The average cost of an in vitro pregnancy in 2008 was $12,400.00, and like all health care costs the total is only becoming more expensive.
However overwhelming the cost of IVF, unfortunately it may not be the only cost that couples face. The process of identifying and treating various infertility conditions can be very involved and loaded with tests and procedures. Because of this a couple who are wanting to have children but who don’t have a good understanding of their own fertility issues must take some careful thought regarding how best to allocate financial resources, when, and through what channels.
It’s a matter for careful consideration, as many couples have paid for insurance they proved not to need, while other couples have failed to get insurance only to frantically enter a spending cycle that may leave them destitute even as the children they yearned for are finally possible.
Each couple, before deciding, should talk together about the importance of having a biological child. For many couples the need to have a child of their own family lines will outweigh financial issues. For others the answer of living without children, or building a family through one of the many forms of adoption and fostering, will seem a happy answer. Such discussions can make it much easier to decide whether to purchase infertility insurance or forgo the cost.
A final consideration is the involvement of a couple’s birth families. Grandparents often feel a strong commitment to the possibility of grandchildren…and a couple facing what can be years of expensive treatments may appropriately apply to grandparents to determine how much financial support they are interested in providing to ensure the next generation. This should not be either a form of blackmail or a matter of begging. But grandparental support in the form of financing infertility insurance may make the difference in whether a family can afford to proceed assertively in the quest for children, or whether they will have to accept other final resolutions.
With such a wide range of possibilities it is clear the option to buy infertility insurance is complex and challenging. Take time over it. Test the options, and discuss them, and then make the best and most satisfying decision for your own family.
