Monday, November 3, 2014

Fertility Coverage or Bust for our Patients

The average cost of a cycle of IVF, including medications hovers around $15-16,000 (all costs). Cost is obviously a barrier to IVF which is unfortunate as it provides the highest chance of live birth. Approximately 50% of the patients I see have infertility treatment coverage. This is due to our close proximity to Illinois which has one of the more comprehensive fertility mandates in the US.

Many times insurance companies that cover IVF will not cover it unless there is a "medical necessity." Oftentimes we write letters and talk on the phone with insurance company MDs fighting for our patients to have coverage for IVF. This usually involves multiple levels of written letters, peer to peer phone conversations and in-person testimonies.

Sometimes we are successful and sometimes we come up short. Man, it feels good when we get a claim approved! I wanted to share a recent success story emphasizing that persistence pays off.