To my insurance company, having PCOS is like having leprosy - ain't nobody gonna touch you. In this case, it means that I have to fight tooth and nail for EVERYTHING.
For example, as part of my initial visits with the infertility doc, Dr. T told me I needed to have a pre-conception visit with a high risk OB. Basically, it's what all high risk parents should do before even starting to try to get pregnant - Au naturale or IVF. It's not an infertility visit.
My insurance company decided to throw it back at us to pay nearly $200 for this visit to an OB we decided we aren't even going to go with at this point because they were idiotic in how they coded it. For six weeks, I chased down the right person at C Hospital to talk to about the bill. I talked to the insurance company, I was routed back to the hospital, who routed me to the Arthritis Foundation for two weeks playing phone tag, only to find out that the Arthritis Foundation's billing is different from the Perinatal department (there's a shocker) and then through three other people before finally finding the right department and someone to help me. With a little finagling they sent it back to the insurance company who has decided they will cover all but about $30 worth.
The finances for covering IVF do not stop there.
The doctor's office charges us about $2,000 for the appointments, ultrasounds, blood work and procedures.
The hospital charges us around $5,000 for the use of their space, the procedural space, and use of their anesthesiologist.
And then there are the drugs. One of my drugs alone is $178 per vial and we've gone through 20 of them at this point. ONE drug. The rest of them equate to around $3,500 dollars.
Once I become pregnant, insurance should cover everything from that point on. They only toss it out if it's any part of infertility treatment. Go figure. All this because of Octo-Mom and John and Kate. Insurance companies don't want to cover those people who are abusing the system and the doctors who allow them to do so. So while we've scrimped and saved; begged and borrowed, they have a reality TV show on TLC. So not fair.
At this time, I'd like to make a plea for donations. You might even earn naming rights - not really, but hey, I like the name Obiwan for a boy; Mara Jade for a girl; so hey George Lucas, send me a check. (This second name choice totally pegs me as a Star Wars junkie and anyone who knows the name I'm talking about is a nerd too.) But if someone came along and whisked away our baby debt - and the debt connected to it - I would be incredibly grateful.
I guess I write about this because for most people, getting pregnant costs nothing, absolutely nothing. And I wonder sometimes if people realize the financial difficulty involved with infertility. There are so many other things I could do with $15,000 - not more important things, but other things.
I could
Put a down payment on a house
Put myself through two more years of college
Send Jenny to Catholic high school
Travel to English, Ireland, and Egypt - all on separate trips
Spend a month in Disney World
Buy a car - a fairly decent one
Remodel my bathroom, and probably my hall one too 'cause they're both small
Adopt domestically and still have about $2,000 left over
It took us nearly three years to "pay off" Jenny and I still have the letter from the credit card company telling us the account was paid in full. It's a reminder of how far we had to come, what we had to sacrifice to even have a chance at having a child. It reminds me just how precious my little girl really is and how much we really wanted her in our lives.
I stop and wonder if we'd have the "problem with kids these days" if all parents had to save up for a child and then spend the next three years paying off the loan. Would we have abuse and neglect if we had to work hard to get our children, had to spend so long contributing to the debt?
Tonight, I pray for all the mothers of adopted children, mothers of infertility babies, and those who spent the money but got nothing in return. For the parents, I pray that monetary blessings be poured upon you equal to the blessings you've received in your child. And for the empty-armed mothers, I pray for peace, a lessening of your grief, and hope for tomorrow.
God bless us all.
(((((HUGS)))))) I remember the days of infertility treatment (had to do meds and IUI for the first 2). Mother nature is just nasty too because now that I am finished having kids, my system works wonderfully! I understand your frustrations too. I think the US needs to have the same requirements we had to meet to adopt Reagan for anyone to have a child. It would certainly cut down on abuse and chains of people who abuse the system.
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