Reply to Federal Health Plans & IVF coverage

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am new to this forum.  My husband is beginning federal employment this week in Virginia.  We have to select an FEHB this week and I am not sure which to pick.  We will definitely need to do IVF with ICSI.  I have already done all of the pre-cycle workup and testing in Florida (which our current insurance, Tricare, covered for the most part).  All that is left is to initiate the actual IVF cycle.

With DH's new job we will not be allowed to keep Tricare (it doesn't cover IVF anyway), so we need to select an FEHB.  I will also need to select a new facility in Virginia, Maryland, or DC area to do IVF and I see that Shady Grove seems to be very popular on this forum.

My questions:
1.  Which FEHB will be most beneficial and curb the costs of IVF (please include info on plan names, monthly premiums, caps, out of pockets, etc.) ?
2.  Which facilities are the best for pursuing IVF in the above mentioned areas?
3.  Any additional helpful info would be much appreciated!

Thank you![/quote]

Unfortunately no coverage for IVF for Federal plans. DH chose the GEHA plan because it provided the best multi-state coverage at the lowest cost since we have older kids who live in different states. It covers testing and diagnosis of infertility, but no ART for Federal plans. I read a ton on this forum after the IVF coverage was taken away for Federal employees right before we moved here, even for those in IVF mandated states, and got the Carefirst BlueChoice HMO Silver 3500 plan based on other Federal employee's recommendations. I did not buy on the exchange since I don't qualify for a subsidy anyway and I heard the prices were inflated on the exchange for people who don't qualify (true cause I found my quote was cheaper direct from Carefirst).

We were completely OOP for our multi-cycle IVF costs before we moved to MD. I just had my first consult at Shady Grove Fertility and started preliminary testing. I'm not sure how it is all going to bill out, but I hope it bills out as specialist, which is not subject to deductible. Anyone else have any experience as to how IVF treatments bill out with the Carefirst BlueChoice HMO Silver 3500 plan??

I believe the specialist not being subject to deductible is new to the 2018 plan, but I'm not sure. All I know is the SGF financial person who explained my benefits had never heard of it not being subject to deductible. She told me we have to pay the $3500 deductible up front, which I wasn't too happy about because I chose the more expensive Silver plan because IVF was not supposed to be subject to deductible with that plan vs the Bronze plan.[/quote]

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