Hey there. Welcome back to fertility cafe. I’m your host Eloise Drane. Welcome to Episode 67 of fertility cafe. During the first three seasons of the podcast, we’ve done a lot of episodes on financing your path to parenthood. In episode six, we talked with Sonia Stewart about family building financials like escrow and taxes. In episode 47, we talked about paying for your fertility care. In episode 50, we spoke with Jason Smith about fertility insurance and episode 60, we spoke with Brooke Quinn of Carrot Fertility about employer provided benefits. For hopeful parents, those are all great resources if you’re looking for ways to pay for your fertility plans. But how do we get the overall cost that those methods need to cover them? In this episode, I want to talk with you about budgeting and cost cutting options as well as areas where you absolutely do not want to skimp. So let’s start with a few cost cutting options that hopeful parents can use.
Eloise Drane
Number one, first, one way to cut down on cost is to complete an independent surrogacy journey versus working with an agency. If you really need to cut costs, and you’re willing to take on a lot more work yourself. You can pursue independent surrogacy and forego the management costs of an agency. However, keep in mind that you will have to find a surrogate yourself, logistically manage the entire process from start to finish, and perhaps go this alone without having the support you may need throughout the process. It’s definitely doable, however, and not impossible.
Eloise Drane
Two, next perhaps consider working with a first time surrogate versus experienced surrogate. First time surrogates typically request a lower comp than experienced surrogates. And at times, this can be a substantial difference. If you’re planning to do an independent surrogacy journey, meaning you’re not going to work with an agency, then you’ll need to find your own surrogate. Be sure to do your due diligence and research on who ever you consider working with. Many intended parents go to Facebook to find a surrogate. Nowadays, there are Facebook groups where potential surrogates go to find people who need their help, basically they’re listing themselves in modern classified ads. Be careful though, because if you’re doing this on your own, you don’t have anyone like an agency who knows the red flags to look out for. So you need to be cautious of people who want to take advantage or are perhaps doing this for the wrong reasons like due to financial desperation.
Eloise Drane
Once you found a potential surrogate, properly vet them through background checks and online research. There are websites like screenyoursurrogates.com to help you. We go into all the details and the processes for vetting your surrogate in a new program surrogacy roadmap, an online course for independent surrogacy coming out in the fourth quarter of 2022, which teaches you how to find your surrogate as well as how to screen your surrogate amongst many other things.
Eloise Drane
Insurance is another big aspect for you and perhaps your surrogate. In many states, fertility care is not covered unfortunately. Much of the expenses coming right out of your own pocket. Depending on the procedure or screening needed, if you have it done outside of the fertility clinic, it may be covered by insurance. For instance, your insurance may cover some or all of the bloodwork. Getting your bloodwork done by a lab like LabCorp, or Quest may be covered as a preventive care measure. See if your clinic will provide you with an order to take to an outside facility so that you can use your insurance. Or if you need a procedure such as a hysteroscopy, you could potentially get that done at your gynecologist office instead of the fertility clinic. Again to have your insurance cover the cost in a more traditional or non fertility treatment scenario. These are just some suggestions to look into. If you want to better understand what you can have covered by your insurance company to save money, simply call them. Most insurance companies have dedicated lines and support staff to answer coverage questions. You don’t have to let them know what you’re planning to have done, or that you’re struggling with infertility, you can simply say that you want to better understand your coverage and ask about the sorts of preventative care procedures, gynecological procedures, etc. that are fully or partially covered by your policy.
Eloise Drane
Four, for your surrogate, if she has medical insurance without exclusions, you may be able to use her insurance for the pregnancy care. It’s highly unusual for her insurance to cover anything related to IVF. But there may be a possibility it will cover the pregnancy once she is released to the OB and then for delivery. That can be a significant savings in cost, especially given how expensive health care insurance is right now. Ask your surrogate if she wouldn’t mind calling her insurance company to find out what is covered and what is not covered by her insurance policy. Keep in mind that you will still need to cover things like co pays, deductibles and any residual bills that come through that her insurance doesn’t cover. But even getting the delivery covered by insurance can save you tons of money. There are also insurance companies in the industry that can vet the policy for her and see if surrogacy pregnancy is covered or not.
Eloise Drane
Five, if possible, work with a local surrogate and clinic to save on travel costs. Travel and lodging are one of those expenses that can add up quickly. If you can pay for gas and mileage instead of airfare and a hotel, you’ll save quite a bit. If your surrogate isn’t local to the fertility clinic, she will most likely be required to travel for screening and then of course for the transfer. If it’s not successful on the first attempt, and you must attempt several times, those expenses can add up. If you or your surrogate do need to travel, consider using travel rewards. Many credit cards offer you rewards in the form of airfare, hotel night stays and discounts. For example, American Airlines offers credit card holders an annual companion pass that allows you to buy one airfare at regular price and get a second ticket for just $99. This can be a significant cost savings if you use it right.
Eloise Drane
Six, a surrogates geographic location can also play an important factor in cost. Many times a surrogate in California, for instance, is going to request a higher compensation to perhaps someone in the Midwest. Sometimes this is related to the cost of living. California surrogates often request a higher compensation simply because her cost of living is higher. And so sums of money are relative to how far she can use that money in her day to day life. However, just because the cost of living is lower in some states doesn’t necessarily mean that the overall cost of the surrogacy will be cheaper. For example, we know that California is the most expensive state for surrogacy, because quite frankly, it has the longest running IVF history. And that’s where a lot of professionals and clinics are. For years, everybody would go to California to get their procedure done. And so simply by the mechanics of supply and demand, surrogates in California get the highest compensation in the whole country. The funny thing is, though, that California and New York are comparable as far as cost of living and everything else. But surrogates in New York don’t get as high of compensation rates as the surrogates in California.
Eloise Drane
Another way your surrogates geographic location plays a role in the cost is with regard to the local laws. For example, if you’re looking to work with a surrogate in New York, you need to be aware of the new laws that are in place. In New York intended parents actually have to pay for the surrogates medical care for two years, including one year post delivery. Intended parents are also required to pay for a short term life insurance policy with the minimum of $750,000 in coverage for one year post delivery as well. All of those things factor into the cost. Try not to get hyper focused on your surrogates compensation to the point where you don’t factor in all of the other contributing costs, such as the professional fees in the area. For instance, California is going to be more expensive with legal fees, hospitals, obstetricians and so on, which can significantly raise the price.
Eloise Drane
Seven, if you’re one of the lucky ones who has the option, if possible, work with a compassionate or known surrogate. Oftentimes, family members or close friends are happy to help you bring your family into being and they’re glad to do so for a lower compensation fee or no compensation at all. Obviously, that would be huge as a big piece of the surrogacy expense is the compensation to the surrogate.
Eloise Drane
Eight, use your HSA health savings account or FSA flexible spending account. Your employer will withhold money from your paycheck and deposit it into a tax free plan. The accounts can be used for certain surrogacy expenses, and you can get a massive bump and savings from tax incentives.
Eloise Drane
Nine, if you’re still in the process of embryo creation, and need the help of an egg and/or sperm donor, perhaps you may consider embryo donation. Oftentimes, embryo donation is less expensive and less time consuming. The cost of retrieving fresh eggs and creating new embryos can be astronomical. Also for a fresh cycle. You don’t know if a donor will actually produce mature eggs and if those eggs will become viable embryos. Whether you go through a bank or an egg donation agency, it can cost anywhere from 18,000 to 25,000 for about six eggs at a frozen egg bank to 40,000 to 60,000 for a fresh cycle through an agency You may also need to spend a few thousands on sperm donation. However, if you go the route of embryo donation and become an embryo recipient, you already know you have viable embryos and you’re circumventing all of those costs of a fresh cycle.
Eloise Drane
In episode 76 of this season, we’ll be talking with EM•POWER by Moxi about embryo donation if you’d like more information about this route. As a nonprofit, they provide a ton of information and resources.
Eloise Drane
And 10, price shop on medications. Not all pharmacies charge the same amount and not all are covered by your insurance. Consider looking for discounts on the often pricey medications that come along with fertility treatments. You may just be surprised at how wide the price gap is between competing pharmacies for the exact same medications. Don’t forget to shop online and physical pharmacies and don’t be afraid to shop out of state. Often shipping from another state is cheaper than buying in your own hometown. Just don’t solicit unused drugs from other intended parents. Fertility medications are still controlled substances and asking for them openly and publicly isn’t a smart idea. Ultimately, the best way to save cost is to get creative, think outside of the box.
Eloise Drane
Now all of these cost cutting ideas may have your penny pinching wheels turning, so I want to talk about a few areas where you do not want to skimp in order to save a few bucks.
Eloise Drane
First and foremost is the legal area. Please do not DIY contracts, and gestational surrogacy agreements off of the internet. Attorneys fees pale in comparison to other surrogacy costs. The last thing you want to happen is some legal misstep that jeopardize the parentage of your child. Your medical team is also a place where you don’t want to cut costs, you don’t have to choose the most expensive clinic. But when it comes to choosing a clinic that has high success rates, but is more expensive, or a cheaper clinic with lower success rates, I recommend always choosing the higher success rate clinic. If your procedure isn’t effective, it’ll cost you more to do another attempt than it would have to go with more reliable clinic in the first place.
Eloise Drane
Earlier I mentioned that one of the ways you can save money is by pursuing an independent surrogacy journey rather than working with an agency. While this is certainly true, it’s not ideal for all people. So I want to mention it again in the context of where not to cut costs. If you are extremely busy, if you and your significant other work full time jobs, or have other children, or if your surrogate and clinic are far away, you may not want to go the independent route. Having an agency to support you and advocate for you can go a long way in ensuring your surrogacy journey is as successful as humanly possible. If you want to cut the costs of working with an agency to manage your surrogacy journey, again, I created an online course called surrogacy roadmap, specifically for intended parents who want to do independent surrogacy and who also want to have a successful, enjoyable journey to parenthood. But without the agency prices. The doors are opening in q4 of 2022. So stay tuned.
Eloise Drane
Thank you so much for listening. If you found this episode helpful, please rate fertility Cafe on your favorite listening platform and share this episode with anyone you think could benefit from hearing it. Thank you so much for joining me today. Until next time, remember, love has no limits. Neither should parenthood
