Reply to Would you do shared risk at SG at 39?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Don’t have the doc right in front of me though I can look tmw to be sure. Shared risk is 28,500 plus 6,000 for genetic testing plus whatever the cost of medication is (5-7k?) So, the cost is around 40k. You get a baby or you get your money back, essentially. I believe one cycle is 10,800. So, if we do shared risk and get lucky on first or second cycles, we would pay more and SGF comes out ahead, if it takes longer, they come out ahead.

I know there is no way to know since it varies, but do most couples need multiple cycles?[/quote]

I am 39, was given similar statistics as you were, and I am currently in the Shared Risk Program at SGF.  So I think, for our age bracket, since genetic testing is required, the cost of it is included in the $28,500.  There's a footnote about this in the financial brochure which is written a little unclearly so I was expecting to pay an additional $6,000 on top of the $28,500, but I have only received and paid a bill for $28,500, and I have already gone through one round of PGT-A testing.  Here's hoping I don't get a surprise bill for $6,000.

We have no insurance coverage for IVF, and I spent a lot of time weighing the pros and cons of doing Shared Risk vs. just purchasing cycle by cycle.  I don't love the idea of possibly ending up spending more money then I had to, but I hate the idea of ending up with no child (AND no refund) after spending tens of thousands of dollars even more so I ultimately decided to go with Shared Risk.  I believe the doctor told me that I had a little over 60% chance of having a child after one cycle of IVF (caveat: I can't actually remember if by one cycle she meant one retrieval and one transfer or if she meant one retrieval and possibly several transfers).  Good odds yes, but I wasn't willing to bet that I wouldn't be in that 40% who require more than one retrieval or transfer.  Shared Risk has reduced a good deal of the anxiety in an already very stressful process.  There is a lot of unpredictability when it comes to IVF, particularly if you have not had any prior retrievals/transfers.  Doctors can generally predict with some confidence whether you'll respond well to the medication, but it's completely up in the air what egg quality will be like, especially at this age.  I was fortunate and ended up with 5 PGT-A normal embryos after my first (and only so far) retrieval, but I'm in a facebook group where there are women who had a similar number of eggs retrieved and ended up with no normal embryos.  My transfer is scheduled for next month, and again, the results are unpredictable, even with a PGT-A normal embryo.  For many women, even PGT-A normal embryos end up not implanting or have resulted in miscarriage.

It is very comforting for me to know that even if this process completely fails, the only wasted money will be limited to the cost of medication.  I had two OOP IUIs prior to starting IVF, and each time one failed, it just felt like $2,000 down the drain.  We are fortunate to live comfortably, but $4,000 for failed treatments still stung.  Purchasing just one full IVF cycle (1 retrieval and 1 transfer) with PGT-A testing runs around 18k-19k at SGF and many of the other DMV area clinics.  You could theoretically pay $10,500 for a single cycle, but you'd need to have a fresh transfer (not a guarantee; will depend on how your blood work looks around the time of retrieval), and if you end up with more embryos than the number being transferred, there would be an added cost to freeze the other embryos (which you would want to do because there's no guarantee the fresh transfer will be successful).  Frozen embryo transfers are $4,600 at SGF, so the costs will add up if you end up needing several transfers.

I don't currently have any children and would probably be willing to go through 3-4 retrievals before moving on to other options, but you have the option of withdrawing from the Shared Risk program whenever.  If you want to withdraw from the program, but still have normal embryos on ice, it's possible you could get a partial refund (depends how many retrievals/transfers you've already had).  If you want to withdraw from the program and have no normal embryos on ice, you should get a full refund.  SGF also has the right to terminate you from the program.  [/quote]

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