Can anyone give me advise on having ivf?my husband had cancer ?

Question

and we can not conceive naturally but we can not afford to pay thousands.help?

Answer 1

Sorry, I can't advise on financing but I can share with you how much you can expect to pay.  I live in California and have PPO insurance.  I get less than $2,000/year covered.  IVF is costing $11K per cycle, plus an additional $4,000 per cycle for drugs.  If push comes to shove, I can borrow against my home equity line of credit, but since that's an adjustable rate mortgage, I really don't want to do that.

Answer 2

I am so sorry to hear of your fertility struggles!  

Does your husband have any sperm or low sperm that could be extracted and used for IVF?  Are you going with donor sperm?  If you are going with donor sperm, you could try an IUI which is less invasive and less expensive.

As to paying for it - here is some information for you:

Currently 15 states in the US mandate some sort of fertility coverage. You can refer to the Resolve Website for info on the states that require coverage:

http://www.resolve.org/site/PageServer?p...

Be warned even if your state required it - some businesses are headquarted in other states and offer their coverage through another state that may not offer benefits. If they are self-insured it is not covered, and you must meet their qualifications for infertility.

I also recommend that you contact Fertility Life lines - they have a free hotline that you can call and have someone help you to better understand your coverage and to do an analysis for you. They were great - gave them my policy info and they researched it, got me all of the info on what was and was not covered and explained it to me:

http://www.fertilitylifelines.com/

If you cannot find insurance coverage here are some other suggestions:

1) Start with the RE - most doctors have a team that can help you with finding ways to pay for your treatment - they are amazing at figuring out your insurance benefits, coming up payment plans and may even be able to recommend medical studies / clinical trials that you may be able to participate in.

2) Grants -there are groups out there that fund raise for fertility treatments - you need to apply and cross your fingers.  I would look into it.

3) Loans - banks and credit card companies (my friend used Capital One) offer fertility loans with fair interest rates and payment plans. Maybe see if you can borrow from a family member.

4) Serious budgeting - I also know couples who have taken part time / seasonal jobs to save up for treatments, sold things on ebay etc . . .

Here is a great link for you:

http://www.nobabyonboard.com/options.htm...

Good luck!