It's 2017 and they and Aetna is still charging more than double for IVF meds! I can't believe that this practice is legal. So by charging more for the meds they get you to pay a higher copay to them, and then it eats up your benefit so they have to pay much less for your actual fertility procedures. This is a huge conflict of interest! My alternative is to pay cash at another pharmacy and trust that Aetna will reimburse me which I have had a horrible experience with in the past getting Pregnyl reimbursed from them. If you have a choice so insurance companies stay far away from Aetna.

We had federal BCBS when we started IUI last year and then switched to Aetna so that we would have 50% coverage for our first IVF cycle. Nightmare to get all the approvals done in time. Everything said here -- absolutely true. After a lot of hand wringing, we ended up getting our meds through Freedom Pharmacy, even though that meant we would have to pay everything up front out of pocket. However, with their Project Greenlight rebate program, we got half of it back, and fairly quickly I might add. We just kept our receipts, filled out a simple form and fedexed it all in. A couple weeks later, we had a big fat check. In the end, we probably ended up paying a tiny bit more or even about the same, but it was worth it for us to not have to deal with the disaster that is Aetna. Good luck to all through this stressful and maze-like process. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure their "incompetence" is no accident. This is entirely consistent with other tricks and gimmicks that insurance companies use to discourage use of their benefits, as revealed in the debate around health care reform.

I am using Cigna (through DH) and only have good things to day. They covered all meds and three IVF cycles. The paperwork is minimal; everything is going very smoothly. Not all companies or plans are the same.

Was this plan from a MD employer?

Aetna doubles the price of their meds, and if you use the coverage in the plan for the meds, that will eat signigicantly into your maximum coverage cap for infertility services. Better to just buy the meds out of pocket, swallow the cost, and then have more left in your cap in case you need another cycle. You will pay close to the same either way. I think Aetna jacks up the med prices so that you end up spending all your coverage on meds. At least they cover the procedures and everything else though.... I didn't have any coverage before, so I feel somewhat grateful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are lucky most insurances don't cover any ivf

+1

I have to come up with 4 grand on my own for meds. Wish these complainers would just STFU!

Well, we had to come up with $6,000 on our own for meds WITH Aetna insurance so we beat you and you should not complain. It actually was cheaper to do it without calling Aetna at all. If you read the posts carefully pp, you will see that the point of this post was to warn other women that this "insurance" was actually a huge rip off and that this company is taking advantage of women by claiming they pay 50% when they are really just running a shell game. Those of us with this so-called "insurance" paid the same amount as those of you without any insurance AND we had to pay monthly Aetna premiums for the pleasure. I'm pretty sure it's fair to say we got a raw deal and that other women should think carefully before going this route.

Maybe you should take that nasty attitude and language to another board.

1. Caveat emptor. DO YOUR RESEARCH.

2. You're going to need a thicker skin than that to survive the fertility jungle.

I never understood telling people with insurance to stop complaining when that energy should go in to trying to get good coverage for everyone.