Most insurance companies do not offer any infertility testing or treatment. You may want to consult with your insurance company to see what is covered and what is not as many of the tests can be quite expensive.
Clomid is often one of the first things medical professionals will try to treat infertility. If your insurance does not cover these drugs, shop around before shelling out the money at your favorite pharmacy. In my experience Walgreens wanted $79 per dose, where Walmart only charged $9.
Adoption can be just as expensive as infertility treatment and also comes without a guarantee that a baby will result in the process. A cheaper alternative can be to adopt through the foster care system. The state (at least in Michigan) will pay you for care of the infant/child until they are adopted and they will also pay for the adoption proceedings if the child is a ward of the state.
My Story
My husband and waited a bit to try to conceive to get to know each other and also until we had some money saved for a rainy day. By the time we were both ready to start trying, I was REALLY ready. We were already charting(natural family planning) to prevent pregnancy before we were trying, so we had that first step out of the way. Ten months of testing, tears, two rounds of clomid and about $2000 out of pocket later, we got a positive pregnancy test.
Does anyone have an infertility or adoption story they would be willing to share?
Next week: The first of four posts on "Preparing for Childbirth" (I promise we will get to the fun stuff (buying baby things) soon, I just want to get the important stuff out of the way first) :)
