Overseas IVF cost

[AniSL]

Hi all

I am currently looking into IVF overseas, sadly we do not qualify on the NHS due to 36 being too old. I have looked at costs here and they are difficult to swallow with some clinics going up to 20k for one cycle. Even though we have some savings that could cover this, I do not want to blow that much money in search of a BFP when there are other options available. I would prefer to spend a fraction of that cost on the IVF and the rest on my child’s future. That being said, has anyone used clinics overseas in the last year? What was the cost of the actual treatment (excluding flights and accommodation)? Did it include drugs or where they additional? Was the experience a positive one and was it successful?

I have researched a fair few but people experiences are always better than the online reviews as these can be fake.

Ani

As a general rule, in order of ascending price: Czech Republic & Poland, Greece, Spain and then USA (eye wateringly expensive). Costs can vary quite a bit between clinics.

Didn’t include the cost of medication in our case. Often things like icsi (if you need it), blastocyst culture and freezing of any spare embryos are included though. In the uk ICSI is usually extra on top of IVF cost as is embryo culture beyond day 3 to blastocyst and any embryo freezing.

Thanks EarlGrey

I have found Czech to be cheapest too although it doesn’t appear to have the success rates as Greece. Was hoping for personal experiences and cost too

Ani

Have a look on the fertility friends forum. Lots of women on there that have had treatment abroad and can advise on costs, hotels etc.

Personal experience in Czech Republic, currently 21.5 weeks pregnant. Fresh cycle £3.5k which included EVERYTHING, ie drugs, scans in UK, treatment, flights, accommodation, holiday costs for 8 days, meals, freezing of extra embryos etc etc. Our fresh failed, spent £1.5k on a FET, again including everything also with add-ons this time - acupuncture, scratch, embryo glue etc. There's no point costing it without flights and accommodation as these are costs that you'll want to factor in. From my research this is as cheap as a reputable clinic comes, and success rates are excellent. Would never consider ivf in UK after my great experience abroad. Costs are as transparent as it gets, there is price list on website and I didn't pay the clinic a penny more (in fact it was their ten year anniversary when we were there so they gave us 100 euros discount!). Good luck x

I think from your previous posts, you’re planning to use your own eggs. My experience abroad is only with donor. I used a clinic in Greece and they were very good. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them, but I’m unsure re costs using own eggs.

Hi Ani, I spent about £6k for a fresh cycle in Czech Republic but that included flights and accommodation which was probably about £2k. I was also on very high stims and it also included costs of bloods and scans pre-treatment. I'm now almost 20 weeks pregnant after 1 failed cycle in UK and another UK cycle that resulted in miscarriage. I would highly recommend going abroad if you can get time off work to go there, I found it less stressful than having to work at the same time while having UK based treatment.

Good luck!

3 years ago using DE & DS, IVI Alicante.

No drugs. £9k. Worked 1st time. Flights, hotel & food extra.

Just asked them for a price for another cycle & it's rocketed to £16k per attempt.

Wow thanks all. That’s some good info and it seems Czech is quite popular. Thankfully I have time to take off work and I agree that they are very transparent with their prices too. Will check out fertility friends too.
We are looking at own egg IVF with ICSI and TESE.
Had some really good chats over email and Skype with various clinics. ScottishGirl what clinic did you use?

We went to Reprofit in Brno. I honestly don't work for them, lol, but they were fab. I think you can probably Skype them but I did it all over email. The first time I spoke /saw anyone from the clinic was 20mins before they put me under general anaesthesia for egg collection! It seems daunting in theory and I would say that some of the nurses don't have great English (but the doctors do), but everyone there is the most friendliest people you could imagine. I felt so safe and comfortable there (and it's immaculately clean!). We have mfi with barely a handful of sperm to choose from and they got us 100% fertilisation rate, which I was astounded by. Their techniques are more advanced than UK in my opinion. Good luck x

We went to Klinikk Hausken in Norway, it was amazing, very high tech and professional. Treatment came around £4.5k and we had a lovely holiday
I'm now 29 weeks pregnant.
Highly recommended.

Scottishgirl85 hi there..

We have just completed a failed IVF cycle on the NHS and I've been looking at Reprofit which seems like the best option for us. One thing I can't seem to get answers on is things like tests/scans here in the uk before travel.. Did you get those from your doctor/clinic on top? or did you fly out in time for your day 9 scan?

Also drugs - did you use there pharmacy?

Sorry for all the questions - I have tried the FF forum but there are hundreds of threads and still couldn't find the answers..

We have a appointment with our NHS clinic on 28th so ideally we want to go out to Brno beginning of March.

I managed to get my bloods done for day 2 tests so FAI/FSH/LH/AMH/E2 and all the other usual suspects. I also had a transvaginal ultrasound and was able to get an AFC. Hubby had his LH/FSH/Testosterone and karotyping and two SA’s done all in the NHS. We sent all these off and they seem to be enough for most clinics apart from Serum

Hi Gizmo, we got the questionnaire from Reprofit which shows the tests you and partner need. We have a lovely GP who did them all on NHS, including sperm analysis and ultrasound for me. The only test I had to do privately was AMH, which I had done at our nearest ultrasound direct. I booked scans during stims with the ultrasound direct clinic too. So all in UK. We flew out day before egg collection.
For drugs we used fertility2u, which is an online UK pharmacy, worked out cheapest for us and they have links with Reprofit so they happily accept the Czech prescriptions and you get a discount on the drugs due to their connections.
Good luck! Xx

KattyH thanks. I have had various quotes which I will put up on here too. Travelling and accommodation will need to be factored in but prices vary so much depending where and when you travel.
So far our top clinics are Reprofit (thanks ScottishGirl), Gennet, Virk fertility and Embryolab. I am waiting on consultations from a few more.

Good guide to Reprofit processes

www.reprofit.cz/guides/treatment-guide-eng.pdf

Embryolab are great. That’s where we went and I think they’re brilliant (and I’m not just saying that because the treatment worked).

We chose them largely based on success rates, the fact that they do IMSI as well as ICSI, price (not cheap, but not insanely expensive) and the fact that after having a Skype chat with them we felt very happy with them and felt that there was no language barrier. I think it also helped that several of their Drs have spent years working in the U.K. in the past so not only are they very fluent in English but they also understand how the system works here which is helpful when you’re having some of your investigations/tests done here. The main downside of them is that it’s a longer flight to get there than eg Czech, that there are not as many flights there as there are to other places and they’re more expensive than the Czech Republic.

I did have a Skype chat with gennet, but much preferred embryolab.

kattyH. If you’re considering the Ukraine, I would strongly recommend you do not use or even consider using BioTexCom. They’re totally unethical and they regularly come on here trolling and sock puppetting by pretending to be suffering from infertility, but are actually here to advertise their clinic. I think their unscrupulous marketing techniques tell you all you need to know about them and I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.

I also went to Reprofit and would recommend it

ScottishGirl - in terms of the scans needed for Reprofit - was this an additional cost on top of the package price?

Yes scans in UK are paid for by you, as it's completely separate to the clinic. If you were living in Czech Republic then the clinic would do the scans. I had two scans during my fresh cycle and one during fet. I then emailed the results to the clinic. About £90 each but they're included in my costs above, I added up everything. We then paid for a private early pregnancy scan at 6.5 weeks.

Thanks ScottishGirl. Their email wasn’t very clear so thought I would check on it. So their complete IVF with ICSI package is about £1700, but we will need to pay for medication and scans which will need to be done in the UK. Still works out way cheaper than the UK and will better fertilisation and success rates.

I got my medication from Reprofit pharmacy, it was very easy and cheap. I believe Asda is the cheapest though if you have time to shop around.

As a general rule if you're not entitled to NHS IVF then your GP shouldn't arrange any of the bloods etc as they are all part of the IVF.

My GP and husbands urologist advised that the tests need to be done to determine whether a person is eligible for special funding which my husband would’ve been if my gynaecologist supported the referral