I thought the hardest decision to make regarding IVF was the decision to do the actual procedure.

Wrong.

Turns out, that was the easy part. As I previously mentioned, our clinic offers 3 options for us out-of-pocketers:

1. Pay cash. Ha, Credit card. Who am I kidding?

2. Multi cycle discount (no refund)

3. Multi cycle refund program (no baby in 3 fresh and 3 frozen cycles = refund of 70% of your money)

I basically decided not to even worry about the refund program. Personally, I feel like this program is made simply to make money, and doubt that if I were to qualify, that it would be worth it for me. Why would I qualify if chances of it working before 3 fresh and 3 frozen cycles weren’t really good?

So that leaves us with option 1 and 2.

Bryan is leaning more towards pay out of pocket. I vascillate between OOP and going Multi cycle. A friend of mine who has been through this suggested a graph with all possible scenarios and what it would mean financially:

The cost of one out of pocket IVF+ICSI at our clinic is 11,848 + about 2,000 for meds. The first cycle would actually cost about 15k total because of pre IVF testing that needs to be added, and freezing sperm. The cost of a multi cycle (2 fresh, 2 frozen) is 21,450 + 2,000 per fresh cycle for meds. From what I understand, meds for frozen cycles are minimal, so I didn’t add anything for those.

Plusses are what we would pay extra, minuses are what we would save, based on choosing the multi cycle plan.

  • Cycle                              Out of Pocket             Multi Cycle           Difference
  • One Fresh cycle                      15, 000          23,450                 + 8,450
  • Two Fresh cycles                   28,848            25,450                 – 3,398
  • One Fresh/One Frozen          18,500           23,450               + 4,950
  • One Fresh/Two Frozen         22,000            23,450               +1,450
  • Two Fresh/One Frozen         32,348             25,450                – 6,998
  • Two Fresh/Two Frozen         35,848            25,450               -10,498

(Sorry for the poor spacing, I couldn’t get it to format correctly. )

At the most extreme ends, basically if we paid for the multi-cycle and it worked the first time we’d be paying an extra 8,500 (or saving 8,500 if we paid cycle by cycle). If we needed 2 fresh and two frozen cycles and paid out of pocket, we’d be paying an extra 10,500.(or saving 10,500 with the multi-cycle). Its that second fresh cycle that’s really the kicker, and where the money really starts to make a difference.

Just for a comparison, for the price of 2 fresh and two frozen cycles, you can buy a Lexus.

I hate that there is no way to know how my body is going to respond. That there is just simply no way to KNOW which choice is the smarter one. It’s making my anxiety ridiculous, and the calmness I felt about deciding has been replaced with a desire for several glasses of wine. I need to decide, and be ok with the decision.

Rock paper scissors, anyone?