How do you afford IVF?

[bubbaflash]

we went to Cambridge IVF last night. it was one of the open evenings and we found it very informative.

however despite being one of the cheaper clinics it's still eye wateringly expensive! I like the fact that the drugs are included in the price, but still!

we would need to take a loan to cover the costs, and as this is secondary infertility and we already have a 6 year old this makes me feel terribly guilty.

how do people afford to do this?!

Boring answer but: a mixture of our existing savings, contributions from both our parents and 3 years of frugal living, including no holidays since 2016 now. We're so lucky to have a 4 month old but I'd be lying if I said I don't feel the occasional pang of bitterness that we've had to scrimp and save every penny for years and will have to continue to do so for a while yet, since having a baby is a financial hit too!

As above, have cut back on spending, and gone without new things for the house.
Parents don't know about IVF.
Planning to put a chunk on an interest free credit card, if possible one with rewards I'll use.

The other thing you might want to consider OP is Access Fertility, one of their refund programmes depending on if you fit the criteria.

We just saved and saved. We figured if we were lucky enough for it to work we'd have an extra £700 a month childcare costs so we tried to save about that much each month.
We are lucky we have embryos from last time to transfer so it's half the cost of IVF but it's still £5500 for each transfer and like you we have a child already and I feel bad for spending so much money that we could spend on our child instead

We remortgaged the house for an ivf fund £20k has got us 2 rounds so far but we ll need a loan to do one more cycle

The clinic we use do an interest free credit which we have used. we do have savings but rather then use all of that at once we’ve tried to just pay it out of our wages but obviously if we need to we can use the savings! It is expensive times!!

We just started saving saving saving from the moment we ttc thinking we’d need money for a child and by the time we came to do ivf 4 years later after 1 free cycle on the nhs, we had enough for a 2nd cycle and enough for our FET too. We’ve stayed with the nhs run clinic for now, partly because of location and because it’s one of the cheaper in the area.

Savings, living frugrally plus my parents have loaned us some money. We are also hoping to do the Access Fertility refund programme so that if it doesn't work we'll at least get some of our money back.

Have you looked in to going abroad?

I have no idea the costs, (I am in Ireland) I know a lot of people go to Greece and Spain as the costs are lower than here.

Abroad, its stupid money in the UK.

There are some really cheap places in the UK like ABC which is £3.5k incl drugs so don't discount the UKA

0% credit card ☹️

We went to Invicta clinic in Poland. Better success rates than the uk, and a lot less expensive. We were extremely lucky in that it worked first time, and we paid using savings.

Was thinking the same today. We have had 3 cycles over 8years and trying to save for 4th cycle. Looks like another credit card. I've already got 7k from last cycle on credit to pay for.

For the past few years every time I’ve gone to buy something non essential I’ve asked myself whether I want it more than a baby. Usually the answer is no.

Cambridge IVF do a good three cycle package and, as you say, cycles inclusive of drugs which does help to be sure of the cost in advance.

Good luck whatever you decide.

It's a difficult decision. The prospect of financial pressure was what stopped me going for IVF in the end. I don't think there is an easy answer or a right one. I decided in the end that having a comfortable life with one child meant more to me than having a second one. But I know that it's not as easy for everyone because the longing for a baby is hard to ignore. I definitely think it's a harder decision to make with secondary infertility. I wouldn't have hesitated if it was primary.

@Booboosweet I agree with you the longing is so difficult. With our first DS I felt relieved and so happy to have finally got him but I feel now the desperation to have a DC2 is more and worse that trying for our first. .

We went to Brno for our IVF, it was so much cheaper than the UK.

you are so right. we didn't have fertility problems with our first, so the endless trying rolling into 4 years now is so sad.

I have absolutely no idea what to do yet, I feel guilt either which way. ultimately there is no right decision, just a choice you have to live with.