Average Medication Cost for an IVF cycle??

[Anonymous]

My husband and I have been TTC for about 3 years. We are patients of Shady Grove, after 5 IUIs, and 1 year of savings $$$, we are about to pay the $20K for the shared risk program to begin the IVF process. However, I have to wait 2 weeks to see my doctor so that he can approve my participation in the shared risk program. Meanwhile, I am going crazy trying to figure out average medication cost for 1 cycle of IVF. I currently have Carefirst BC/BS (but am not a federal employee) and from my understanding Carefirst does not cover any cost associated with IVF (though my IUI attempts and medications were completely covered). Though I know medication protocols can vary , can anyone give me an idea of the average medication cost for an IVF cycle?

[Anonymous]

I don't know the average, but I have Kaiser insurance and they supposedly pay for "half." It sure doesn't seem like half, but there is a discount. I have paid about $3500 each time for two cycles.

The first time was menopur, ganirelex, and gonal F. This time was lupron, menopur, and gonal F (the last two in much larger doses). Plus endometrin and estradiol. Both times I used Novarel for the trigger.

[Anonymous]

Mine have been as high as 6,000+

[Anonymous]

It really depends on how you reapond to the drugs. Although i was young (early 30's) when i cycled i as a pior responder and meds were 5k+ per cycle. Many other women stim for under 2k.

[Anonymous]

It does totally depend on what you need. For Follistim, figure $1.00 per unit. If you are on 75 units a day or 450, it will make a huge difference.

I had good luck with Alexander's Twin Pharmacy. But I paid $6600. Eek.

Try free garage sale site- there are meds for sale if you are okay buying from someone.

[Anonymous]

I'm the $5K poster and I was on between 450 and 600 units of stims per day (max that anyone generally takes is 600/day). I stimmed for 10 days---hence the $5k bill.

[Anonymous]

Completely dose and protocol dependent.

[Anonymous]

Ours cost about $4500. I'm 37, but I responded well (we have male factor issues). I shopped around aggressively (called 5 different places, and ordered from 3), and got as many discounts (through my fab nurse, and through the pharmacies themselves, who are usually quite sympathetic to self-pay patients). My IVF protocol involved Gonal F, Menopur, Ganirelix, HCG trigger, plus the usual estradiol and progesterone for post retrieval/transfer.

[Anonymous]

PP, do you mind sharing what pharmacies you used? I also need to start price shopping, and it would be nice to have the names of some pharmacies I should definitely call. My protocol will involve Gonal F, Menopur, Cetrotide and the trigger (plus the other usual drugs you mentioned for post transfer)

[Anonymous]

14:19 here. I used Walgreens mail order, Freedom Fertility (for the Gonal-F - cheapest there with a special card that your nurse can give you, and also mail order) and Grubbs Specialty - a local pharmacy in NW DC. Grubbs was a little hard to track down online - be sure you call the 17th Street NW one. I also called Village Fertility Pharmacy (mail order, based in NY), and Prosperity in Fairfax, but didn't end up using them. Also, even if your insurance doesn't cover fertility meds, they might cover the estradiol and endometrin, since they have other uses besides just IF treatment. Not that those are the meds with the hair-raising prices, but every little bit counts, right? For some of the meds, you will need to know dosing, so they can give you prices for the right vial size - for example I think the Cetrotide comes in two sizes/strengths.

I used the HEART+ card (discounts on Menopur, Endometrin, Bravelle, Novarel and others, $10 enrollment fee) and the DesignRx discount program (just need to give them your email address), as well as the GO Card (only for Gonal-F) - which are all available to those of us with out insurance coverage for meds. One of the pharmacies signed me up for the Design Rx over the phone, and the other two were cards that my practice gave me.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the tips!!

[Anonymous]

I have read there is also a shared meds program, similar to shared risk where u pay a lump sum and are covered for the 6 cycles. I believe after two cycles u more than makeup that cost...

[Anonymous]

I didn't use Shady Grove so I don't know how their billing department works, but at GW they were able to code some of the meds as not for IVF (not the expensive ones unfortunately but things like BCP's and Prometrium) because they are for thing only tangentially related to IVF, like pregancy support during your 2ww. It only saved a couple hundred dollars, but every little bit helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know the average, but I have Kaiser insurance and they supposedly pay for "half." It sure doesn't seem like half, but there is a discount. I have paid about $3500 each time for two cycles.

The first time was menopur, ganirelex, and gonal F. This time was lupron, menopur, and gonal F (the last two in much larger doses). Plus endometrin and estradiol. Both times I used Novarel for the trigger.

Thanks so much- is the 3500 you quoted as "half" with Kaiser half for EVERYTHING, or just the drugs? It's my understanding that at Shady Grove the procedure(s) for IVF are around 3K, and drugs are in addition to that.
What was your TOTAL cost? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I'm the "half" poster using Kaiser above. The meds have been $3500 both cycles. We get assisted hatching and ICSI, which Kaiser doesn't cover at all, so we pay more for the cycles. The cycles have been about $6500 plus the meds, for a total of $10K. Ugh.