Shelynda Brown never expected to pay $63,000 out of pocket for fertility treatments.
(Hyperovulation is when the ovaries release multiple eggs instead of the usual one egg per cycle.)
Eggs and sperm are then placed in a laboratory dish and given the chance to fertilize.
Getty Images / Graphic by Zackary Angeline
If a sperm fertilizes an egg, it becomes an embryo.
Embryos are placed in an incubator and monitored for several days.
Assisted reproductive technology allows many people to become parents.
Courtesy of Shelynda Brown
Its also incredibly, and often prohibitively, expensiveespecially IVF, one of the most successful technologies.
The American Society of Reproductive Medicine maintains anonline databaseof state-specific insurance requirements.
Many people, like Brown, use up their savings and borrow against their retirement.
Courtesy of Jennifer
Others take out private loans or ask to borrow from family and friends.
Some people rack up credit card debt, and some turn to crowdfunding sites.
Heres what Brown and five other families shared about how they paid for IVF.
Courtesy of Athena Reich
When I got married I was 38, and we met with my ob/gyn to do prepregnancy counseling.
We probably spent about $25,500 out of pocket.
Then we decided to go with an unknown donor, who produced 16 embryos.
Charles Davis
During the first embryo transfer we got pregnant, but I had a miscarriage 9 or 10 weeks in.
We tried a second time, but the embryos didnt take.
My husbands insurance covers fertility treatments, but only if we were using my eggs and his sperm.
Courtesy of Alyse
Because we had to use donor eggs, they considered it to be voluntary and they wouldnt cover it.
Overall, we spent around $63,000 on IVF.
Private adoption was too expensive, so we chose the foster-to-adopt route.
Courtesy of Tracy
Our daughter is now 4 years old.
There is a strong likelihood we will be able to adopt him also.
After the third IUI didnt work, my doctor recommended IVF.
I was slightly in denialI didnt think it was going to come to that.
My insurance at the time covered $10,000.
The medications alone, depending on what your doctor recommends, can be $3,000 to $7,000.
We decided to try it.
It didnt work the first try, and then we were totally out of insurance coverage.
We had some money saved but not very much.
Basically, they were offering an injectable hormone and they didnt really tell me what it was.
It was like a full-time job.
Because I was part of a trial, they monitored me more closely.
I had to go every single morning in the dead of winter to have blood taken.
The transfer was not successful.
We waited a couple more months.
I got a bonus at work and [planned to put it toward] a third round of IVF.
At this point, we felt financial strain in addition to emotional strain.
And the same thing happened: I retrieved 13 eggs and I only had one embryo.
But this embryo stuck around, and I had my son.
Insurance covered the first $10,000, then I would say we spent $20,000 out of pocket.
I think if we didnt have fertility issues, we probably could have bought a house.
I decided that I needed to break up with her and start my family.
My doctor gave me a discount and only charged me $800 for each natural IVF cycle.
Thats how I afforded itI just got lucky.
None of those worked and I had miscarriages, so I decided to move to an egg donor.
I went to a Shady Grove Fertility clinic that has a money-back guarantee program.
If you dont end up with a baby, you get your money back.
If it didnt work, I planned to quit the program and use the money back for adoption.
Thankfully, the first egg donor transfer worked, and I now have a son.
I spent maybe $60,000 or $70,000 overall, out of pocket.
I hate thinking about the total.
I had insurance and it hardly covered anythingfor example, it covered part of the IUIs but not IVF.
And it didnt cover sperm washing, a process that isolates sperm from semen, which is required.
The rest of the money I had saved.
One of my childhood dreams was to get married and have children.
At the age of 38 I decided to look into the possibility of being a single parent.
Preliminary test results had shown I had a very low ovarian reserve, and I also suffer fromendometriosis.
I had great insurance that covered the cost of fertility treatments and $5,000 toward medication.
I used the allotted amount for medication during my first round of treatments, which were unsuccessful.
My second course of fertility treatment was around $5,500.
The cost of the sperm with packing and shipment cost me about $800.
Between the medication, office visits, and donor sperm, my total out-of-pocket cost was about $10,000.
This was the best $10,000 I could have spent.
Im a single parent by choice to a happy, energetic, 2-year-old son.
We were living in St. Louis, Missouri when we started trying to have a family.
I actually got pregnant very quickly and unfortunately, had a very early miscarriage.
We figured Oh, that was easy, we’ll just do it again.
And it didn’t happen.
The Clomid might have been.
About a year trying to conceive, we were referred to a reproductive endocrinologist.
She had us start with IUI.
We did two rounds of that out of pocket, which cost at least $1,000 a cycle.
Because we lived in Missouri we weren’t eligible.
We told the fertility clinic we wanted to move forward and they gave us different payment plans and options.
They provided us with an app for a credit card specifically for medical expenses.
I don’t remember what the interest rate was, but it was probably ridiculously high.
Even before we moved I started calling fertility centers.
I found out that in Connecticut IVF is covered if you have a good insurance plan.
As soon as we moved, I started a cycle of IVF.
I paid some out of pocket to meet the deductible.
Between the IUI attempts and the IVF cycles, we paid more than $30,000 out of pocket.
I’m a firm believer that not having the financial stress was a positive factor in my story.
Two months after being married a reproductive specialist confirmed we would require reproductive medicine to have a family.
Were now two years into our fertility journey and have completed two IVF cycles in the past year.
The first fresh embryo transfer did not work and we received a negative pregnancy test.
We then had four frozen embryos left.
The second transfer was a frozen embryo and it implanted successfully and resulted in a positive pregnancy test.
Unfortunately, the embryo stopped developing, and at eight weeks there no longer was a heartbeat.
We also could wait for my body to naturally dispel the tissue.
We opted for both the surgery and testing, but the results showed no genetic abnormalities.
so that pay for our IVF treatments, weve taken out a $20,000 personal loan.
Our self-proclaimed baby loan requires a $450 monthly payment for the next four years.
We also keep using our credit cards for miscellaneous expenses such as copayments and medications that insurance doesnt cover.
We also discussed crowdsourcing, but never launched a campaign.
Our credit score has plummeted and we cannot even think about buying a house at this point.
Were everyday, hard-working, responsible people who will do whatever it takes to become parents.
Othersblog about their IVF journeysand connect with other people online.
And remember: You’re not alone in what you’re experiencing.
