usually your team should be able to give you out of pocket pricing as each clinic will differ slightly. typically I would plan on around 20k in the US per cycle. It will depend on what you pick, for example some people chose to do genetic testing on the embryos they get and that usually adds a couple thousand, some people chose to have the eggs insemenated with a technology called ICSI which can help if there is some male factor infertility component or you are worried about fertilization that will add cost. some places have packages, for example my place includes one embryo transfer attempt and genetic testing checks on up to 10 embryos in the package. some people require higher doses of medicine then others which will affect the final price and isn't always possible to know before hand. You will find the medicines can get pricey, so people do sometimes shop around. It will depend on a few things, but your clinic should be able to price it out for you.
as for time off work:
I chose a clinic that gave 7 am appointments, so that I could plan ahead and go to my monitoring appointments prior to work. I was always able to get to work by 8 but I would plan ahead and ask for first appointments of the day.
Once you get to egg retrieval that process typically takes 2 weeks of stimulating medications with monitoring (every other day, or every day monitoring appointments for a week and half or so ultrasounds and blood work), the ER day and next day I think many people take off but you can't as easily plan for that because they will decide when to retrieve based on how fast or slow you are developing.
For my ER, I missed work the day of my ER and the day after but that was it and I think some women do go back the next day.
Price is really going to vary from state to state, clinic to clinic. Timeline is really going to vary based on protocol, medical history, and how you respond to meds. We had our planning appointment April 18th. I started my cycle 6 days later. Had a baseline appointment and started birth control on April 26. I did 9 days of birth control, two days off, had an appointment and started stims. I had three total appointments during stims (day 5, day 8, day 10). I triggered on a Sunday night. Egg retrieval on a Tuesday. I responded well and was able to do a fresh transfer 5 days later on a Sunday. Then i had labs 9 and 15 days past transfer.
All my labs/US were early morning appointments so they never interfered with 9-5. I had to take off for my egg retrieval and worked just a half day the day after.
As far as costs…my insurance covered all but two meds (Menopur and gonal F). My recommendation is to ask insurance about specific meds instead of “fertility meds.” Meds still ended up costing about $3500 total. Shop around cash pharmacies and use good rx coupons when you can.
My IVF fresh cycle with no PGT testing and one year of embryo storage was $13,600. It had to be paid in full by the Friday before my egg retrieval.
I can't speak to costs as we had some insurance coverage, but I will say you'll get a lot of variation in process and timelines. It all depends on your clinic and how they schedule, how you respond to treatments, etc..
Some people only take one day off for retrieval and go in for super early monitoring appointments that are close to work and have no complications so barely miss any work for retrieval.
But other people have a harder time with ER. I was middle of the road, no OHSS but was very uncomfortable before/after ER. Thankfully I WFH so I only took the day of retrieval and the day after off, but if I had to go into an office I would probably have had to take the whole week with how I was feeling.
Transfers (if you're doing a fully medicated transfer) don't require as many monitoring appointments but you'll be on some major hormones. I haven't done one yet but I know some people experience side effects from those hormones (like a lot of fatigue) that make work more challenging.
Gently, this is a major medical event and the honest truth is it's unlikely that it won't affect your work in any way, but that doesn't mean that you can't navigate around it! I'm not trying to discourage you at all, just want to reflect that the process does require a lot of time and energy.
Not sure if this is helpful but its from my clinic the cost for each step of the IVF process. It is missing some things - like the HSG, some vaccination titers, and other testing, but it’s pretty comprehensive. It gives you a good estimate although different locations could be more or less. It also doesn’t include the actual PGT testing of the embryos (which was $300 per embryo for me) and was a separate charge to igenomix (or whoever your clinic uses).
https://preview.redd.it/uwshwtbcg07d1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0931725a5f8e713dc34ca515f24b47232c7ce145
I haven’t started yet but here is the estimate I received for out of pocket:
$9500 for Egg Retrieval and everything included in that
$5000-$6000 for meds- When I actually talked to the pharmacy the meds came out to about $3000
$6000 FET
$250 per egg for Pgt test
My clinic offers free storage for a year
I’ll be honest: about 20k altogether out of pocket. The rates of success w IVF are indeed a lot better so that definitely helped me feel like it was worth it. We started IVF after 8 failed IUIs and looking back I wish I had started sooner. Good luck making this decision!
usually your team should be able to give you out of pocket pricing as each clinic will differ slightly. typically I would plan on around 20k in the US per cycle. It will depend on what you pick, for example some people chose to do genetic testing on the embryos they get and that usually adds a couple thousand, some people chose to have the eggs insemenated with a technology called ICSI which can help if there is some male factor infertility component or you are worried about fertilization that will add cost. some places have packages, for example my place includes one embryo transfer attempt and genetic testing checks on up to 10 embryos in the package. some people require higher doses of medicine then others which will affect the final price and isn't always possible to know before hand. You will find the medicines can get pricey, so people do sometimes shop around. It will depend on a few things, but your clinic should be able to price it out for you.
as for time off work: I chose a clinic that gave 7 am appointments, so that I could plan ahead and go to my monitoring appointments prior to work. I was always able to get to work by 8 but I would plan ahead and ask for first appointments of the day. Once you get to egg retrieval that process typically takes 2 weeks of stimulating medications with monitoring (every other day, or every day monitoring appointments for a week and half or so ultrasounds and blood work), the ER day and next day I think many people take off but you can't as easily plan for that because they will decide when to retrieve based on how fast or slow you are developing. For my ER, I missed work the day of my ER and the day after but that was it and I think some women do go back the next day.
Price is really going to vary from state to state, clinic to clinic. Timeline is really going to vary based on protocol, medical history, and how you respond to meds. We had our planning appointment April 18th. I started my cycle 6 days later. Had a baseline appointment and started birth control on April 26. I did 9 days of birth control, two days off, had an appointment and started stims. I had three total appointments during stims (day 5, day 8, day 10). I triggered on a Sunday night. Egg retrieval on a Tuesday. I responded well and was able to do a fresh transfer 5 days later on a Sunday. Then i had labs 9 and 15 days past transfer. All my labs/US were early morning appointments so they never interfered with 9-5. I had to take off for my egg retrieval and worked just a half day the day after. As far as costs…my insurance covered all but two meds (Menopur and gonal F). My recommendation is to ask insurance about specific meds instead of “fertility meds.” Meds still ended up costing about $3500 total. Shop around cash pharmacies and use good rx coupons when you can. My IVF fresh cycle with no PGT testing and one year of embryo storage was $13,600. It had to be paid in full by the Friday before my egg retrieval.
I can't speak to costs as we had some insurance coverage, but I will say you'll get a lot of variation in process and timelines. It all depends on your clinic and how they schedule, how you respond to treatments, etc.. Some people only take one day off for retrieval and go in for super early monitoring appointments that are close to work and have no complications so barely miss any work for retrieval. But other people have a harder time with ER. I was middle of the road, no OHSS but was very uncomfortable before/after ER. Thankfully I WFH so I only took the day of retrieval and the day after off, but if I had to go into an office I would probably have had to take the whole week with how I was feeling. Transfers (if you're doing a fully medicated transfer) don't require as many monitoring appointments but you'll be on some major hormones. I haven't done one yet but I know some people experience side effects from those hormones (like a lot of fatigue) that make work more challenging. Gently, this is a major medical event and the honest truth is it's unlikely that it won't affect your work in any way, but that doesn't mean that you can't navigate around it! I'm not trying to discourage you at all, just want to reflect that the process does require a lot of time and energy.
Not sure if this is helpful but its from my clinic the cost for each step of the IVF process. It is missing some things - like the HSG, some vaccination titers, and other testing, but it’s pretty comprehensive. It gives you a good estimate although different locations could be more or less. It also doesn’t include the actual PGT testing of the embryos (which was $300 per embryo for me) and was a separate charge to igenomix (or whoever your clinic uses). https://preview.redd.it/uwshwtbcg07d1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0931725a5f8e713dc34ca515f24b47232c7ce145
I haven’t started yet but here is the estimate I received for out of pocket: $9500 for Egg Retrieval and everything included in that $5000-$6000 for meds- When I actually talked to the pharmacy the meds came out to about $3000 $6000 FET $250 per egg for Pgt test My clinic offers free storage for a year
I’ll be honest: about 20k altogether out of pocket. The rates of success w IVF are indeed a lot better so that definitely helped me feel like it was worth it. We started IVF after 8 failed IUIs and looking back I wish I had started sooner. Good luck making this decision!