Can you Embryo Bank with the Fed BCBS Insurance plan for IVF?

[Anonymous]

Hello,
I am seeking info on embryo banking while using Fed BCBS insurance. Does anyone know if you have to complete a full cycle ( egg retrieval and then FET) before insurance will cover another round of egg retrieval? I don't know who to ask, when I have contacted BCBS nobody seems to know the answer, maybe Im asking the wrong people.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I don't know the actual answer but common sense says no. Insurance isn't going to pay for you to bank embryos when one of the embryos you already have could get you pregnant and they could be finished paying for fertility treatments. So obviously keep looking for the real answer, but I strongly suspect no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know the actual answer but common sense says no. Insurance isn't going to pay for you to bank embryos when one of the embryos you already have could get you pregnant and they could be finished paying for fertility treatments. So obviously keep looking for the real answer, but I strongly suspect no.

This isn't true. With some it may be, but has not been the case for the most popular plans in the area. The MD marketplace insurance (Carefirst) gives you three cycles per life birth. It counts each cycle as a transfer. I banked over more than 3 cycles before I had a transfer. When I got on BCBS federal plan, they didn't ask if I had frozen embryos before approving a retrieval. They do have a lifetime or yearly limit so you can't go completely crazy with banking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello,
I am seeking info on embryo banking while using Fed BCBS insurance. Does anyone know if you have to complete a full cycle ( egg retrieval and then FET) before insurance will cover another round of egg retrieval? I don't know who to ask, when I have contacted BCBS nobody seems to know the answer, maybe Im asking the wrong people.

Thanks!

PP here. Bank away. They don't ask and you don't need to tell them. I'm on BCBS FEP Standard. They approved my retrieval. I had embryos frozen. Just be mindful of your yearly limit if you are planning to transfer the same year.

[Anonymous]

My preauth said I was approved for one cycle (retrieval and transfer). I don’t know if it was my diagnosis or the way my clinic submitted the preauth, but I have seen on Reddit where others were approved for multi-cycles. My dr’s recommendation was to transfer any viable embryos instead of banking, so that is what I’m proceeding with.

[Anonymous]

I had a frozen embryo (now pregnant!) and got approved for retrieval and transfer. They do not pay for storage, you need to be medically infertile

[Anonymous]

You can do multiple retrievals before a transfer. Have in writing from my clinic that they confirmed.