Reducing the Costs of Fertility Medication

Based on your treatment protocol – the types and dosages of the drugs prescribed for you – and the treatment expenses you are to pay out of pocket, the costs of fertility medication can be around 30 percent or more of the overall treatment costs.

We believe fertility treatment options such as IVF, IUI, and egg freezing should be financially accessible to everyone. In this article, we will look at the average cost of medications for egg freezing, embryo freezing, and IVF treatment process. We will also discuss your options for cutting down those costs.

Average Costs of Fertility Treatment Medication 

The fertility medications used for egg/embryo freezing and in vitro fertilization (IVF) are usually injection hormonal drugs. To name a few, menotropin (brand name Menopur), follicle-stimulating hormone (brand names Follistim and Ganirelix), GnRH-antagonists (like Cetrotide and Ganirelix), and a trigger injection that is taken prior to the egg retrieval (such as Ovidrel or Lupron). 

The average cost of fertility medication for egg/embryo freezing and IVF cycles can come around $2,000 to $5,000. That is a wide range since the right dosage depends on your biology. For instance, women of advanced maternal age usually require higher doses of fertility medication, which means that they would have to spend more on medications. 

Cost of Oral Drugs

The medications usually used during intrauterine insemination (IUI) or timed sexual intercourse are letrozole or clomiphene. Typically, they cost less compared to the fertility medications used in IVF treatment process and egg or embryo freezing process. Even if there’s no insurance coverage, you won’t spend more than $100 per cycle on the two medications.

Estimating Your Specific Fertility Medication Costs 

We try to be as transparent as possible to our patients during their fertility treatment process, and that includes lowering “unexpected” costs of IVF or egg freezing. Following your initial consultation, your fertility doctor will provide you with an estimated cost of buying the medications from your pocket at a local pharmacy.

Remember that each treatment cycle is individualized based on your body’s response to the medication. Hence, your medication protocol may be changed as you proceed with the cycle. However, your fertility advisors are going to let you know the costs that come with these changes before starting the process. 

Reducing the Costs of Fertility Medication 

1. Understand Your Insurance Coverage

Most of the patients who have fertility treatment insurance coverage (such as essential employees) will also be covered for some medications. At times, they can cover the costs for all medication used for IVF or egg/embryo freezing. As for those undergoing elective egg or embryo freezing, their insurance plan sometimes covers the costs of fertility medication even if it does not provide coverage for the procedure itself. 

We recommend contacting your insurance provider for more information about coverage for the IVF process or egg/embryo fertility medication. It will also help you to know whether or not “prior authorization” would be required or not.

Prior authorization is a process by which a healthcare giver asks for approval in advance to make sure expensive medications are covered. It is possible that your insurance plan needs prior authorization but does not cover your fertility treatment.

In such a case, there’s a low chance that they will cover your medications. However, if your plan does not require prior authorization, there’s a higher chance that they will cover some, if not all, of your fertility medication costs. 

We understand that insurance can be tricky to navigate. This is why we also house a financial advisor who will contact your insurance company on your behalf. He/She will then give you the low-down of your coverage.

2. Compare Pharmacies

The medications used for IVF process or egg/embryo freezing are bought through a local specialty pharmacy. Although our expert team will give you some recommendations, you are free to buy from whichever pharmacy you think is right for you.

If your insurance plan covers fertility treatment, you may have to buy from a particular pharmacy to make sure you are covered. However, if you are paying for your medications from your own pocket, you may want to contact different pharmacies or carry out some online research first.

Compare the prices to make sure you get the best one. The costs of fertility medications change from time to time. This is why contacting pharmacies is the best way to know the latest medication costs. Make sure you take advantage of mail-in rebates or price-matching deals, if available. If you are ordering online, remember to factor in the shipping cost.

3. Trying Different Pharmacies

You may even realize that it’s better to purchase different fertility medications from different pharmacies. This may be hard to do but can save you a bundle. Our team can also help lower the costs by informing you if there are any special fertility discounts or coupons that can be used for certain pharmacies.

Note: If you are ordering fertility medications online, make sure that you are getting quality medication manufactured by a legal pharmaceutical manufacturer. Besides, you should make sure you purchase fertility medications made in the United States.

4. Buy Your Medications “As You Go”

The cost of fertility medications is high as we know it. Thus, purchasing too much of a particular medication can raise your fertility medication costs by a few hundred dollars.

Make sure you don’t buy anything you’re not going to need. You can purchase refills of your drugs as you pass through each stage of your cycle instead of ordering all at once. This means that you will have to be in control of your medication supply. Moreover, it will help maintain close contact with your chosen pharmacy throughout the cycle. This would also necessitate going for a local specialty pharmacy (not an online pharmacy) to make it easier for you to get your medications.

For patients without insurance coverage, our team can order a week’s worth of fertility medication for the initial pick-up. This way, you can just contact your local pharmacy for medication refills as your cycle progresses. It will substantially lower the odds of purchasing medication you don’t need.

5. Explore pharmacy & medication discount programs

Medication manufacturers and pharmacies often offer discount programs to help lower medication costs for certain patients such as low-income patients, those without insurance, veterans, cancer patients, and more. Below are some of the discount programs available:

• Compassionate Care: up to 75% discounts for fertility patients; 25%+ discounts for retired or active members of the army. 
• ReUnite Assist for Veterans: 25% discounts for retired or active members of the army.
• LIVESTRONG Fertility Program: free medications for qualified cancer patients performing fertility preservation.
• ReUnite Assist: medication discounts for fertility patients without insurance coverage.
• Heart for Heroes: free medications for uninsured veterans or their partners struggling with infertility due to a service-related injury or illness.
• ReUnite Oncofertility: up to 100% discounts for qualified cancer patients performing fertility preservation.
• HeartBeat Program: free fertility drugs for qualified cancer patients performing fertility preservation.

Coastal Fertility participates with many other pharmaceutical rebate programs that you can explore here.

Conclusion

We understand that fertility treatment costs often pose a barrier for hopeful parents, especially those who do not have insurance benefits. This is why we have created special affordable programs that cost almost half of the national average for the self-paying patients:

1. Affordable IVF with Frozen Embryo Transfer
2. Affordable Fertility Preservation (Egg Freezing)

If you have any questions regarding IVF treatment, medication costs, or our affordable programs, simply schedule a consultation today.