IVF costing - how did you afford it? 💘

[Izzie94x]

Hi lovely ladies,

Hope you’re all ok.

So after almost 3 years ttc, DH and I have decided fuck it basically- it’s time for IVF! DH has a 12yo son from a previous relationship therefore in our area we don’t qualify for any IVF funding. We’ve have pre testing, bloods and SA for DH. Which the total count and concentrated was super high - double average!! But morphology was only at 1%. We’ve now contacted our local clinic to have a consultation for next steps and figure out if we need IVF or ICSI. I’m thinking it’ll be ICSI, and more money lol.

So my question really, was if you went private - how did you fund it? We bought a house this year, so our savings went on that. We had banked on saving more, but we also wanted to live life fully this year before babies - and hoped it would happen naturally of course.

We’ve been looking at either Access fertility via a bank loan, or Gaia family insurance. But I know either way when baby is here (if hopefully it works!) we’re going to be in some hella debt lol. It will be manageable as we’re lucky with our jobs but it scares me nonetheless.

I was just wondering if anyone was in that same situation / or have recently done the same? 💞

Hi. Following to see suggestions. I'm currently looking at private options as DP's condition is not covered by our CCG. I've looked at the access packages and they seem good but they have one or two clauses (eg with miscarriages) which puts me off slightly. Plus you need to add in medication up to £2000 per cycle.
We also bought a house last year and have 40k in savings between us but don't want to empty our savings pot, there's things I want to do in the house etc. I've also looked at going abroad for ICSI. Success rates are similar if not better. I'm considering the Czech Republic. 2 weeks there, accommodation, food, +IVF and meds is a third of the price over compare to here!

I just had my first cycle, we paid £8800 for a multi cycle package with care fertility, as there are alot of hidden costs in IVF. Each frozen embryo transfer costs about £2000, and with alot of access and mukticycle packages you get those included, takes the pressure off hoping the first one works! We got 6 blastocysts, first cycle failed but if we hadn't paid for multicycle and just paid the 4 grand for one cycle, we'd be paying £2400 per embryo to put back now.

There are also the pre cycle consultations, scand and semen analyses that add up too, and my meds were £1800 for a short cycle.

We saved up during lockdown and are using our savings, we won't have our deposit anymore but we thought, we're imagining a house with children in it, so we can build that back up once they're here. We live in a very high cost of living area so easier to let go of a deposit as so used to renting (for extortionate fees!)

Good luck on your ivf journey, any other questions happy to answer.

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 it’s all quite overwhelming isn’t it? And I just wish we got just 1 round for free, I feel like I have to really research everything this way and it can be stressful 😅 I love the idea of the Access packages, but I also heard about the clauses too! And the medication can be pricey, but I’ve seen ladies on here say they’ve asked for their medication from their local pharmacy and it was way cheaper? But again, I’m not sure I’m capable of organising that? I mean, I’m not stupid LOL but it seems like hassle. I have a friend who went to Prague, twice, a quarter of the price and couldn’t recommend it enough. It’s really hard for DH to get authorised time off work so soon (and we want to start asap!) but I guess if money really is a problem we could wait- I’m being impatient lol. I hope your journey goes ok my lovely💞 and you find the right option for you. We’re leaning more towards the 3 cycle 100% refund with Access (if we qualify of course!) I’ve never had a pregnancy, but the idea of money back guarantee is helping my nerves with the cost.

@Imisscoffee2021 thanks so much for the info lovely. Sorry your first cycle failed, praying for the next one for you✨ do you know when that’ll be? we’ve also looked at the multi cycle, and the 3 cycles 100% refund. If we knew this would be our path, we’d have stayed in rented too! With the access packages, and paying for meds, does this have to be debit card? Just realistically thinking of how much we need to squirrel away now, or if we could put some of that on a credit card. Not ideal, but a baby is all I want right now. I’ll worry about the debt later 😂 we’re really lucky and have supportive parents who can help us out, but we don’t want to take the pee and ask for so much money!!! We also want to do it quietly without letting too many people know. Good luck with your journey lovely- I hope your next cycle is the one 💞💞

Hi OP, since you mentioned cards, we used zero interest credit cards and transferred the balance when the deal was coming to an end.
Also if it's difficult for your husband to get time off, if you decide to go abroad and want to be super practical about it, he could just be there for egg collection day to provide a sample. He could also provide a sample in advance and the sperm could be frozen. That's possible but it's nicer to have him with you in my opinion. I've done both out of necessity/practicality/covid restrictions.
If you do go abroad travel a few days before egg collection, it will save you stress if anything changes or there is a flight cancellation or air traffic controllers strike!
Good luck all.

@Izzie94x it really is soo overwhelming! am considering the access refund packages too! I wish I had a crystal ball sometimes! 😂
I've also looked at ABC (part of create fertility). Their prices are very reasonable but they seem slow in responding and answering queries so I'm not so sure. I'm not very good at not being in control! 😂
Good luck in your journey x

We were blessed that my in-laws were able to help out with a lot of the costs (not eligible for any nhs funding due to my BMI being over 30, won't get started on that...) but I wanted to mention that we went down the Access Fertility route, opting for a 3 cycle package. So far it's been good but we weren't quite prepared for the medicine costs. We got our starting medication through our clinic via Stork but it did not include the post-egg collection progesterone, the cost of which is really starting to mount up. Although the treatment is covered, I am worried about the ongoing costs of the medication and definitely wasn't fully clued up on this before starting!

@clhsgirl can I ask what progesterone you are on? I have ultrogestan which is quite cheap but I had a faint chemical on my first cycle so am worried I'm not getting enough progesterone, are you the same or some other form?

Of course! I am on cyclogest twice a day and lubion shots twice a day. It feels like a lot but I'm guessing my weight has been factored into it (my BMI is 34).

...I should also mention incase it's of interest, that I was on cyclogest suppositories alone up until transfer and then the lubion was introduced.

I went with ABC Fertility, which is a lower cost clinic. They have a set eligibility criteria (based on age, BMI and number of follicles) - if you meet this it's worth having a look. I think we paid £2250 (which included meds). We were extremely lucky as it worked first time for us. We had previously considered other clinics and were going to take out an Access Fertility package. However when we realised there was an ABC clinic local to us and the cost difference, we decided to take a punt and it paid off m. Good luck!

@LongerthanMrTicklesarms thanks lovely! Think we’ll use the zero percent interest credit cards for all our medications. It’s just a minefield isn’t it! Did you go abroad? And how did you find it? 💞✨

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 Ive looked at ABC too!! We’re in Norfolk though- and our closest clinic I think is Birmingham, which is 3hr 30 but still, probably worth the petrol. But I’ve sent them a message and also not had a reply yet! 😩 whereas I’ve contacted my local clinic - Bourn Hall, and we’ve already set up Amh blood tests and our consultation eeeek!!! We’re about 3k short at the mo if we need ICSI, but I’ve booked the consultation and told DH that we’ll worry about the 3k after 😂😂 poor bloke is probably very stressed about the money whereas I’m the kinda gal that does it and worries later 🤣I must say Bourn Hall have been amazing so far and my consultation is 17th October so I’ll keep you posted x

@clhsgirl ugh, don’t. The NHS are so unfair i could literally talk about it for hours. My bmi is under, but I never knew when I got with DH 7/8 years ago that him having a child would effect us like this, but again, I never thought we’d need ivf - so naive 😅 can I ask how much you’ve spent on meds so far? I know it’s different for everyone but same as you in a sense we’re going to bank loan half, half from our Inlaws for the funding of IVF/ICSI when we find out which we need! But we’ve said we’ll probably just use the credit card for the meds, but that’s all well and good until we max it out. Although, it has got a 9k limit 😂😂 we’ve also looked at Gaia family insurance - you pay a premium up front, (3,490 fresh transfer, 1,390 frozen) it includes meds and you don’t pay a penny back until you have a live birth. However, you pay the upfront premium every time you need a round, and you do eventually pay every penny back - which if it works 1st or 2nd round, it wouldn’t be too bad.. anymore than that and you’re paying A LOT.

@loulou2021 i really wish there was one local to us, I wouldn’t even be questioning it and probably just do it. There’s something nice knowing that the clinic is near by! Plus the money you could save, we could probably have 5 rounds there for the price for the 3 package deal here 😅 are all ABCs the same price? I did look yesterday and I do meet the criteria! Xx

With meds, you can save money by getting the clinic to issue you a prescription and then buy the meds yourself. There are a few specialist ivf med companies and ASDA pharmacies sell IVF meds at cost. You can save a huge amount doing this. The downside is that asda won't always have the meds in stock and it can take time to order them in. But if you are organised you can save a good amount. I was on a high dossage of meds for my cycles and the cost through the clinic was £3000 per cycle. If you are on a mild protocol that number would be a lot less but defo worth investigating ways to save money.

@Adeel12359 they are so bad at responding it is pretty desperate. If I need a next cycle I will definitely look for another clinic, also, 1 cycle of mild IVF can cost around 8k with all the medicines, etc, so it is not cheaper than regular IVF. I am with Create, ABC might be a bit cheaper.