April 25th, 2015- IVF Medications Ordered!

I just got off the phone with Freedom Fertility Pharmacy and placed a $2,842 order for fertility drugs which are supposed to arrive this week. This may sound strange, but I was ecstatic to hear the total. During our IVF consult, the financial coordinator broke the news that my insurance didn't cover any of the treatment costs or medications and that we would be looking at $5,000-$8,000 out of pocket just for the IVF drugs. Apparently, being diagnosed with unexplained infertility and needing extensive medical treatment and minor surgical procedures to have a baby is an elective procedure and isn't covered. Bullshit, right?! That's a rant for another time...
Here are my tips about reducing the cost IVF meds after doing a few days worth of research:

• Get a copy of your medication plan and prescription from your nurse and start a list of pharmacies they recommend and start calling around for price quotes. Start a spreadsheet that outlines the cost per unit of each medication you need and list any discounts each pharmacy will offer you. Often, if you are paying out of pocket the pharmacy will discount the cost.
• Research fertility discount programs and see if you qualify for any of them. There are all sorts of programs out there. Most require you to make less than a certain annual salary while others provide huge financial incentives if you or your spouse is on active duty or a veteran facing infertility due to injuries sustained while serving our country. We went with IVF Greenlight which discounts large quantities of medication if you are paying out of pocket.
• Ask your doctor why he/she chose the medications they ordered. If you are 32 or under (I barely made the cut) you can substitute Bravelle instead of Gonal F. For us, the out of pocket cost was only about $300 but IVF Greenlight offers 50% mail-in rebates for Bravelle and 15% for Menupur. We were originally prescribed Gonal-F but when I found out about this discount, my doctor allowed me to switch to Bravelle and this saved us an additional $700. You'll need to send in your receipts within 30 days- so be careful! I had Freedom fax a copy of our receipt to me so that I could mail in the rebate form before I actually started taking the hormones. I am a little weary of how they will make me feel and didn't want to miss out on the discount.
• Using Bravelle and Menopur also allows you to do one single injection instead of two, as you would need to do with Gonal-F and Bravelle. That's definitely a win given I'm looking at 10-12 days of injections!
• Ask if you can use Cetrotide instead of Ganirelix- I've heard Ganirelix is painful.
• Keep ALL of your receipts (co-pays, prescriptions, etc.) and talk to your accountant about writing off your medical expenses for that tax year.
• Take your spouse with you to the IVF injectables class. There is A LOT to remember and it's easier if you have someone else there with you to talk it through. 
• Most pharmacies can ship overnight but you don't want to stress about making sure you have your meds in time- order a week early and make sure someone can be home to sign for the delivery. You can release the shipment to be delivered without signature, but that's a pretty expensive gamble you're taking. I've contemplated stealing a baby before so I'd totally steal your order. ;)
• Most pharmacies won't allow you to return the drugs you don't use so ask questions about how your order was estimated. You want a few extra in case your doctor changes your dosage, but don't overdo it!
• Make sure you know which drugs have to be refrigerated. We only have one (Cetrotide) and it's hanging out with the eggs. Get it? 

Good luck! 

~H