Friday, August 15, 2008

IVF Warranty? What Will They Think of Next?

Today my beloved husband called me at work to relay details of a telephone conversation with the Clinic's finance department. During this discussion, I experienced a moment of utter disbelief that this whole thing is really happening. I shook my head as L. rattled off IVF finance options, specifically several "package deals" that sounded like all-inclusive vacation resorts.

He exclaimed, "We can either get one fresh and one frozen, two chances at a fresh and one frozen, or even three chances and two frozen!"

What??!! Are we talking about fish sticks or roulette?

He went on to say that we can purchase a 70% money-back guarantee from this company in the instance that we are unsuccessful. Of course, they won't disclose how much this "guarantee" will cost until they have my ovarian reserve results in their greedy little paws. So, in essence, I suppose the insurance company is playing the odds themselves - I guess the better my eggs look, the cheaper this little policy will be.

In other words, there is actually someone out there who's willing to roll the dice on this (as long as I have eggs that look they might actually convert into a kid).

So...I'm still shaking my head in disbelief and wondering how we got here. It's the end of Day 1 on the evil pill and I'm already having hot flashes.

(Postscript: For any of you who don't know Fresh/Frozen terminology, see the IF Terms/Acronyms You Never Wanted to Know to the right for a quick explanation. If you stick with me, you'll soon know more than you ever bargained for!).

8 comments:

Liz said...

Why not go the whole hog and nip down the bookies see what kind of odds you can get there?!

Also when you find out how much your premium will be that is going to be a pretty telling indication of how confident other people are in your chances. I don't know I would want to know that, I'd much rather have blind optimism.

Good luck!

I Believe in Miracles said...

That's crazy!! I hadn't even thought about insurance playing the odds.

There is this furniture company up here that said if people come in and purchase furniture between x-y days, then if the red sox win the world series, any of the furniture you buy during those days was free. Guess what? The red sox one that year. Crazy, huh? Insurance must have been seriously upset with that bid.

I'm hoping they'll get the short end of the stick and you get pregnant!!

Thanks for the blog comment. I know what it's like to try and catch up with everyone when work is crazy. I always feel like I'm behind. HOWEVER -- you were missed.

From your comment, as an fyi --IRL -- in real life. My IRL friends vary between having kids, being single, being very far away, and being very busy. It's hard to just find time to hang out. Although my closest friend has 2 kids and she has been a rock star supporter. It's pretty awesome, but I totally hear you on avoiding calls, etc. Somedays are harder than others.

Hope you get all your exciting plans done. I've finished painting the guest room - now I need to tear up the carpet!

**BIG HUGS**

Penny said...

We paid for ours in straight-up cash and so we missed much of the wheelin' and dealin' aspect of this. But I sort of feel left out; who knew that we could get package deals?!

Jill said...

LOL Unfreakin-believable. This actually made me chuckle.

Hope2morrow said...

So many decisions!I'm sorry this is yet one ore stressor and hope you and hubby an find a decsion you both feel at peace with.

Emma's Mommy said...

That is pretty funny......my SIL went through IVF twice and they didn't have any options like that. That would have given her a little bit of a laugh during the long process.

So......what 'plan' did you choose?

How are things going with the evil pills? Hope you and your husband are surviving them :-)

Faith said...

There is something encouraging about someone "betting" on you in this process! Our clinic has a shared risk program that's similar to what you're talking about (sounds like). Unfortunately, my counts weren't good enough last month to qualify . . . here's to September! Hugs for the evil pill days :)

Anonymous said...

We were offered the same kind of deal at our dr's office. It was called a "shared risk" program. You got 3 chances at getting pregnant. If you didn't have a baby by the end of round 3, you got 70% of your money back. However, you pay for 2 cycles up front. So, if one cycle costs $10K, you pay $20K. Obviously it works out great if you don't have a baby, or have one after 3 cycles. But what if you get pregnant the 1st try? Then you are out a lot more than you would have been.
Also, they had to "accept" you into the shared risk program. Basically if they don't think you meet certain qualifications, they won't let you use that program. For example, one girl there got turned down because she was considered to have a too high BMI number.
We just need more insurance companies to cover some of these costs.