Acrew Capital’s Post

Transcript

37 year old Rachel Smith and her husband have been trying to start a family for the past five years. We decided to turn to IVF after the two miscarriages is an absolute emotional roller coaster and one day you go into the fertility specialist and everything is looking good to then like maybe 3 or 4 days later you come back and you're just bawling, crying. The Florida couple, both on active duty in the military, doesn't have fertility coverage. Through their jobs, she says they've paid about $60,000. Out of pocket for IVF and fertility care? There is a lot of uncertainty already when you're trying to have a baby. How stressful is the financial component of it, Rachel? It is very stressful. We've done 5 rounds of IVF. When couples first start out, they aren't sure how much they're going to be on the hook for, right? I had no idea that IVF was going to be that expensive. So that was obviously money that we had put aside for our savings. Nearly 100,000 babies are born with the help of IVF each year. It's a process that can cost 20 to $30,000 per cycle. A cycle starts with two weeks of hormone injections from the mother followed by egg retrieval. Viable eggs are fertilized into embryos and usually one is transferred in hopes of a successful pregnancy. It can take multiple rounds to have a baby and the odds get worse with age. I was one of those patients that took six cycles to conceive. Founder and CEO of Future Family, Claire Tompkins experienced it first hand 10 years ago before having her daughter. Natalie and then twins Lucas and Audrey. So she started a company to help families finance the cost of IVF. This month, they're launching a first of its kind National Insurance policy to cover IVF expenses. The reality for many couples is if you're facing an expense that could be up to 40 or $50,000, being able to ensure that expense gives you Peace of Mind and financial security. How can people afford insurance on top of the already expensive IVF cycles? Yeah, today. Insurance on average is about 20% the cost of coverage, so if you are ensuring $40,000 of IVF expense, you might be paying a up to $8000. It's not cheap, but Future Family gives couples the option to put down a small amount, then six months to pay the full premium. Tompkins says if a couple doesn't have success, meaning a live birth after two cycles, within a 30 month period, they can file a claim to cover the cost of what they paid up to $50,000. There are several other programs that offer refunds. For IVF, when patients don't have success, though, they can be limited to specific fertility clinics or only available in certain states. Experts say the insurance policy is a step toward helping families. If it provides comfort to a patient, all the power to them. But it is important for people to be aware and not disappointed that they may not meet the eligibility criteria. According to Resolve, the National Infertility Association, just 22 states plus DC have infertility insurance laws. Including fifteen plus DC that require coverage for IVF. Nationally, Dr. Lucky Cecon estimates only about one in four women going through IVF has coverage. It's been viewed as this luxury that you know people can elect to do. Whereas weed fertility doctors know that infertility is a disease and fertility care is essential. It needs to be viewed essential just like pregnancy care. Rachel Smith says she'd be interested in the insurance program because she's not. Giving up on her dream of starting a family. There's gonna be more rounds of IVF, to be honest, even if it takes, you know, 10 rounds. I would love to have two or three children. I would like to, you know, be a mom that's very involved in their lives. And we wish them well. Now, this insurance, it is not available to everyone right now. In the first phase, women 38 and older who want to use their own eggs for IVF would not qualify for coverage. But just remember, states actually do have scholarships and grants. So talk to everyone, you know, all your healthcare providers because there may be options available to you that you aren't aware of that could help you help pay for some of these costs. Yeah. But the amount of hoops that you have to go through to sort of piece together all of these things to come up with the money and just shows you this is not easy, but people wanna get it done. Obviously important, but thank you. Thank you, Vicki. Hey, thanks for watching. And don't forget, you can catch the Today show every morning on NBC or take Today when you're on the go. Just follow the Today podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you listen.