Sometimes the most difficult part of going through infertility is paying for it. It’s often not a question of whether to spend or not. A family is more valuable than money any day. We know, we spent thousands over 7 long years to finally have a family. But finding the money to pay for your dreams of having a family can be quite a task. To help you out, here are some ways to pay those bills. Hopefully these tips and suggestions prove useful in your quest to pay your fertility cost and beat infertility.
Let’s begin with trying to reduce some of the cost. I know, for some of you who are reading this, that isn’t an option since you already spent the money and the bills are already coming, but you may still want to check out these tips to reduce any future costs you may have. One of the first things you can do is to be upfront. You have to be upfront with your clinics, doctors, and insurance providers (if you have insurance). By being upfront with clinics you can be sure of what you are getting and what you are going to be asked to pay for. This reduces the chance that you will be billed later with unexpected fees. By being upfront with your doctor about your situation, both medically and financially, you can help them give you a better treatment plan that fits your budget. If you don’t have insurance, tell your doctor so he can adjust. Don’t be afraid to switch doctors or specialists if it means saving a bit more. By being upfront with insurance, you can get guarantees that they will cover some of the expenditures of your treatments.
Let’s explore insurance a bit more. Insurance can be helpful but a bit tricky. As mentioned above, you can really maximize your insurance by being up front. But this may take a bit of guile. If you really want a guarantee from your insurance company you should ask for it in writing before you take any procedure. Further, you can make them cover more of your costs by not using the term infertility. Some insurance providers automatically raise red flags when they hear the term infertility. What you can do is to make them pay for at least the examinations and evaluations you may have to go through. You can put these examinations under more general benefits and conditions your policy covers.
Speaking of policy, always get to know your policy. The more you know about it, the more you can put pressure on your insurance company to help you out financially. When it boils down to it, an insurance company is a business and it will protect itself and its profits above your interests. Be aggressive and put the pressure on them to serve you as they claim to do (that’s what you pay the premium for). Some insurance companies will treat you unfairly and when this happens try to get help from organizations. Resolve is one organization that provides help and information about infertility and infertility insurance and they can be easily contacted through their website.
If you need more immediate funds, an option may be to go to your employer. Some employees are granted benefits that cover immediate medical costs. This will be taken out of your income and some requirements will have to be met before you can avail of it. This isn’t a policy of every company though so try to ask around and get to know what kind of benefits you are entitled to. As with the case of insurance companies, you sometimes have to ask before they tell you what you’re benefits are.
If you really have to pay off the bills, you may have to consider taking out a loan. You can also consider dipping into your retirement fund. Starting a family is one of the better reasons to go into the retirement fund anyway.
Even with these tips it can still be rough. Even if you pay off the bills for now, you’re still going to have to work hard to keep up with loans and your family. But step by step you can get it done. A family is well worth the sacrifices.