The Truth About IVF

So I know you've all been waiting with bated breath to learn about the IVF clinics across America. Before we get to that, I'll just say this: the more I learn, the more I'm frustrated and discouraged about this whole process. We hear things like "40% chance of success", but let me tell you, the reality of the situation is that not all clinics have odds like that. There are a LOT of clinics with 20% success rates of bringing home a baby. And then, there are clinics with 70% success rates. Not all IVF was created equal, I guess. And then there is the price difference. Let's not even get into the issue that some states have insurance policies requiring practically FREE IVF, no, let's just talk about the difference in price for out-of-pocket expenses: The lowest I found was under $7000. But I found several clinics in various states offering IVF with ICSI for under $10,000. And then there's the other extreme. There's the clinics that cost $14,000 and up... literally twice what others charge. Some places require lots of additional testing before they will accept you as a potential IVF candidate... all of that adds up. I know what you're thinking: "you get what you pay for". That's what I assumed too, but that doesn't seem to be an accurate assumption across the board. Resolve's website gives one explanation for the variations in cost stating, "in areas with few infertility clinics, prices, on average, are higher". I guess I can see that... supply and demand, right? It also appears to me that big cities, wealthy areas (like Atlanta) cost more. Except when that big city (like Boston) is in a state (like Massachusetts) that mandates infertility coverage. In those areas, prices appear to be more moderate. So let's take a look at that chart again, but this time with some numbers filled in. 

IVF prices include ICSI and any additional required fees.
*** No prices available ***

For those of you who picked a clinic, do you still feel that way? Those who responded to me all picked CCRM for their shockingly high live birth rate. But as you can see, that extra chance of success comes with a hefty price tag. The truth is that IVF alone is not all that outrageous at CCRM... really no more than clinics here in Georgia. It's the ODWU (One Day Work Up) that complicates things. They charge $4,500 for testing, regardless of whether you've had that tested before. Yikes! But it obviously works. Their odds were the highest I found, so the additional cost seems to make sense. I will say that regardless of the location, it appears that there is NEVER a sticker price... CCRM lists one set of prices on their website, but my dear friend Aubrey (who has her retrieval TOMORROW) has a different price list. We were driving ourselves crazy trying to find the discrepancies! I say this to assure you... we will pay more than we innitially agree to. There will be an extra test, ultrasound blood draw or medication that was not listed in the IVF consult... and we'll pay it because, what the hell, what's $200 more dollars in the face of a bazillion?

So yea, CCRM is expensive and efficient. Essentially for every $1000 you spend, you increase your chances by 3.2% (like how I do math? super real and mathy... my Calculus teacher would die.) But let's compare that to say, my clinic, RBA. $14,700 for a fresh IVF with ICSI. 2011 SART data puts them at a 34.8% chance of bringing home a baby. With that price and those odds, for every $1000 you spend, you increase your chances by just over 2%. RBA is one of the most expensive clinics I found, and yet, in my opinion their numbers simply don't justify the expense. But when I look deeper, I'm even more confused. The live birth rate took a nasty plunge in 2011. When I chose RBA, these latest numbers weren't available, but now I've got to ask what went wrong? Here's the live birth rate over the last several years: 

2011- 34.8, 2010- 40.5, 2009- 41.4, 2008-40.7, 2007- 44.3

In five years, the chances of any one cycle of IVF yielding a live birth dropped by almost 10%. The only rationale I can supply is that they have become much more cautious and serious about the number of embryos they put back. I get the feeling I'd have a pretty big fight on my hands if I wanted to do two embryos. 

Essentially, I have no point here. So yea, thanks for reading all my insights and special math skills. I'm just suggesting that this kind of sucks. No, it super sucks. Where you live (or where you are able and willing to travel to) totally dicates how much you will pay and what your chances are. We're not talking about a percentage point or two or a couple hundred bucks, we're talking double the odds and literally twice or three times the cost. There are HUGE differences from state to state and clinic to clinic in regards to IVF. No easy decisions here.