Egg freezing can be an excellent choice if you want to postpone conception and plan to have children in your 40s or later. However, the procedure’s exorbitant cost may cause you to reconsider. Is egg freezing covered by insurance?
Although most infertility diagnostic and treatment costs are covered by health insurance, procedures such as egg freezing are rarely covered. This is because insurance companies consider egg freezing to be an optional procedure.
Let’s have a look at the price of egg freezing to see if it’s worthwhile.
Is egg freezing covered by private health insurance?
Egg freezing may be a reasonable alternative if you aren’t ready to have a baby but want to boost your chances of becoming pregnant in the future. It’s usually not covered by Medicare unless it’s declared medically essential, so health insurance won’t cover it either.
Gold-level private health insurance, on the other hand, can help cover the associated costs by paying benefits toward your anaesthetist and doctor’s fees, as well as covering theatre and lodging fees in a private hospital. A coverage should cost roughly $170 per month, but if you do decide to freeze your eggs, it might save you thousands of dollars.
What is egg freezing?
Egg freezing is a process of keeping a woman’s unfertilized eggs in the hopes of becoming pregnant in the future, usually when natural conception is less likely. If you aren’t able to conceive right now, egg freezing is a strategy to preserve and extend your chances of becoming pregnant.
Eggs can be frozen and kept for many years without deterioration. The eggs can be fertilized with sperm when you’re ready to have a family. The egg will develop into an embryo, which can subsequently be transplanted to the woman’s uterus if it is successful.
In terms of the operation itself, you’ll often be given daily injections of hormones for 12 to 14 days to allow the eggs to mature. Your fertility doctor will advise you on the best strategy for you.
After that, the eggs are extracted from the ovaries in a surgery that takes around two hours. Typically, a general anaesthetic is given. After that, you’ll be able to go home, and the eggs will be frozen in a process known as vitrification. They can be preserved for years once vitrified, until you’re ready to use them to get pregnant.
How does egg freezing work in terms of Medicare and private health insurance?
The cost of egg freezing is not covered by health insurance. This is because it lacks an MBS number, preventing you from claiming a benefit through hospital insurance. If you want your eggs frozen, however, a private health insurance policy that includes assisted reproductive procedures may be able to help. As long as they have an MBS number, this can cover any of the associated charges, such as hospital admission, anaesthetic fees, consultant fees, and egg collection.
Even if egg freezing has no benefit, you should have far lower out-of-pocket costs if you go private because you’ll be covered for many other pricey aspects of the process.
The average cost of egg freezing
The total cost of egg freezing varies depending on the clinic you visit. Elective egg freezing, for example, costs $6,885 per cycle at IVF Australia. It costs $8,000 per cycle at Melbourne IVF.
While health insurance will not cover the cost of egg freezing, it will help you save money by covering associated fees. When you’re treated at a hospital and a specialist is involved, for example, Medicare pays 75% of the MBS cost (the government-set fee) and health insurance pays 25%.
However, if your doctor chooses to charge more than the MBS price which is rather frequent you’ll almost certainly incur additional out-of-pocket expenses (sometimes referred to as “the gap”). Shop around and constantly inquire about out-of-pocket charges to prevent this as much as possible.
Here’s a summary of the fees you might incur through egg freezing to give you an idea of how much you might pay:
- Freezing eggs. Because Medicare and private health insurance don’t usually cover this, you’ll almost certainly have to foot the bill. Egg freezing is estimated to cost roughly $3,800, according to Adora Fertility.
- Medications for infertility. These are anticipated to cost around $1,500 and are not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in most cases (PBS). Some of the expenditures may be covered by private health insurance.
- There is a storage fee. This is usually not covered by Medicare or private health insurance, and expenses can range from $250 to $500 per year.
- Collection of eggs. If you don’t have private health insurance, the MBS price is $365.50, so you’ll have to pay at least $91.35 out of cash.
- Preparation of frozen embryos. The Medicare benefit is $613.80, and the MBS fee is $818.35. If you have private health insurance, the remaining $204.55 can be covered.
- Procedures for transferring embryos. Because the MBS price is $114.60, you’ll have to pay at least $28.65 out of pocket if you don’t have private health insurance.
- Fees for an anesthesiologist, theatre, and lodging. These prices can vary depending on who you travel with, which is why you should always inquire about them ahead of time. These costs can be kept to a minimum with private health insurance.
Factors that impact the cost of egg freezing
- The clinic you wish to go to. Clinics are not required to charge a set fee, therefore prices might vary greatly depending on where you are in the country.
- Medications for infertility. Without private health insurance, they aren’t covered by Medicare and can cost more than $1,500.
- It’s possible that you’ll require more than one egg freezing cycle. If this is the case, the cost will most likely be the same as the first time, which is often around $4,000.
- Fees for anaesthetists. You’ll almost always need to be sedated for the procedure, so you’ll have to pay for an anesthesiologist.
Does private health insurance cover egg freezing?
Medicare does not fund egg freezing unless it is medically required. This means you won’t be able to get any reimbursement from your hospital insurance for such procedure. However, many other fees that emerge during the egg freezing process will be covered by your health insurance, such as:
These expenses will be covered by assisted reproductive services, which are included in all gold hospital policies. Keep in mind that assisted reproductive therapies normally have a 12-month waiting time.
Contact your healthcare provider to see if there are any parts of the operation that they will not cover. You’ll also have to pay a deductible, which is often $500 or $700.
How Much Does freezing eggs cost?
The average cost of having your eggs collected and frozen is £3,350, plus £500-£1,500 for medication. Storage charges are not included in the price and typically range from £125 to £350 each year. To avoid being surprised by unforeseen ‘extras,’ make sure you have a detailed costed treatment plan from your facility.
The average cost of thawing eggs and transferring them to the womb is £2,500. As a result, the total cost of egg freezing and thawing is around £7,000-£8,000.
Can I freeze my eggs for free?
Freeze & Share allows you to freeze your eggs for free in exchange for donating half of the eggs to a family in need of donor eggs to start a family. Donating half of your eggs is a generous gesture that has the potential to improve the lives of many others.
Is IVF cost covered by insurance?
In most cases, IVF and infertility-related costs are not covered by health insurance. As it will be part of a health plan, insurers want to set a limit on it. When a couple is having trouble conceiving naturally, IVF treatment can assist. The cost of IVF treatment can reach Rs 2.5 lakh every cycle.
What are medical reasons for freezing eggs?
For medical reasons, eggs are frozen. Because some medical treatments for serious illnesses like cancer might diminish a woman’s ovarian reserve or harm the eggs themselves, egg freezing before treatment allows women to save their eggs.
Is it worth freezing eggs at 39?
According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), freezing your eggs is best done in your 20s and early 30s, when your ovarian reserve (the quantity of eggs in your ovaries) is higher and your eggs are healthier. Having your fertility hormones analyzed (for example, with Modern Fertility!) can reveal a lot about the condition of your ovarian reserve and help you determine if egg freezing is right for you, with the support of your doctor. However, egg freezing is not advised for persons over the age of 38.
What is the best age to freeze your eggs?
Fertility preservation is becoming more popular as more couples try to conceive at a later age. Women are increasingly opting to freeze and keep their eggs because it is well known that when eggs are retrieved from an older woman, the chances of a live birth are considerably reduced.
We’ve answered some of the most common questions we get about preserving eggs for a later pregnancy to help you determine if it’s appropriate for you.
What is the best age to freeze eggs?
Fertility begins to drop at the age of thirty and is drastically reduced by the age of forty.
As a result, the best time to freeze your eggs is when you’re in your late twenties. However, freezing eggs at a temperature of thirty to thirty-five degrees Fahrenheit is also extremely usual.
Is it possible to freeze my eggs if I’m aged 40 and over?
Yes, however because the quantity of eggs produced by the body is decreasing, the number of eggs that can be harvested and frozen will be limited. Eggs frozen after the age of 35 have a decreased pregnancy rate, hence it is often recommended to freeze eggs much sooner. Using donated eggs from a younger woman is frequently recommended for women over forty who want to delay their fertility.
What is the egg freezing procedure?
1. You must have blood tests for infection (hepatitis, syphilis, and HIV/AIDS) before freezing your eggs.
2. You get injections to help your ovaries produce more eggs.
3. Your eggs are then harvested and frozen during a procedure that requires a general anaesthesia.
4. When you’re ready to start trying for a baby, your eggs are frozen and fertilized by injecting sperm into the egg (ICSI).
What is the egg freezing success rate?
Because this is a new procedure, success percentages are difficult to predict. If the woman’s eggs were harvested before the age of thirty, the chances of success were higher.
How many eggs can be frozen?
The quantity of eggs that can be kept is determined by the woman’s age. 6 out of 8 eggs will survive the freezing and thawing process in general. The chances of a live birth from these 6 eggs range from 32 percent to 18 percent, depending on the woman’s age at the time she freezes her eggs.
As a result, roughly 30-40 eggs must be preserved in order for a woman to have a decent chance of having a live birth. To keep 30-40 eggs, a woman will need to go through at least two to five treatment cycles to guarantee that she has enough mature eggs. The presence of a large number of eggs in storage does not guarantee a live birth.
Does freezing my eggs guarantee a live birth?
No, there are additional things to consider when trying to conceive, such as the number of eggs stored, health, and age.
What is the cost of freezing eggs?
Elective egg freezing is costly because Medicare does not reimburse expenditures in the same manner that Medicare reimburses some IVF cycle costs when a couple is infertile. Because there is no Medicare rebate, the medications required to encourage the development of the eggs are not reimbursed, and private health insurance rebates for admission to the hospital for egg retrieval are not covered.
Elective egg freezing, on the other hand, costs around $10,000 each cycle. In addition, there are annual storage costs of around $400 per year until the eggs are to be used.
If you’ve been together for a long time but aren’t ready to start a family, you can freeze embryos, which have a greater success rate.
When is it too late to freeze your eggs?
When it comes to egg freezing and a future pregnancy, timing is crucial. According to a 2015 study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the best age for egg freezing is between the ages of 30 and 34. Freezing eggs between the ages of 25 and 30 was found to provide little additional advantage in the study. Researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) discovered that oocyte preservation in women under the age of 34 had the highest chance of obtaining pregnancy using predictive modeling.
How many eggs does a woman have at 35?
Of course, women vary greatly; some are tragically diagnosed with primary ovarian inefficiency (POI, also known as premature ovarian failure), which occurs when a woman runs out of eggs in her 20s or 30s, while others are blessed with an incredibly high ovarian reserve well into their thirties and forties.
Of course, we’re talking about averages and estimations when it comes to how many eggs a woman has in her 30s. Because ovarian reserve drops dramatically in the late thirties, women in their early thirties are generally better off than those in their late thirties. A lady in her 30s, for example, may have 100,000-150,000 eggs in reserve. That number is anticipated to be about 80,000 by the age of 35. That number might be as low as 25,000, 10,000, or even less in the late 1930s.
Is 36 too old to freeze eggs?
A woman may choose to freeze her eggs for one of two reasons. If a medical risk exists, such as chemotherapy, egg freezing allows for a later pregnancy. Second, for social reasons, an increasing number of women are opting for egg freezing. Some people are simply not ready for children, while others may marry later in life. If you still want to start a family, becoming pregnant naturally is becoming increasingly difficult. Freezing eggs allows you to focus on your profession and other obligations while still possessing younger eggs.
Age and egg quantity
So, what’s the big deal with egg freezing and age? Oocytes, or eggs, are essentially single cells. If these eggs need to be thawed for in vitro fertilization, a lot can happen throughout the procedure. The more eggs the clinic has to work with, the more likely it is to obtain high-quality eggs for embryo creation. 90% of a woman’s eggs are lost by the age of 37. By freezing eggs at a younger age, 35 and under, the clinic is able to harvest more eggs every cycle.
Egg quality matters too
At a younger age, the ovaries will also generate higher-quality eggs. From the age of 25 onwards, 75% of eggs are free of chromosomal abnormalities. By the age of 35, 50% of people are deemed healthy, but by the age of 40, just 10% are. Miscarriages, unsuccessful IVF cycles, and congenital impairments are all reduced when eggs are frozen at a younger age.
Is it too late to freeze your eggs?
Yes, women 35 and younger produce a higher yield. This does not, however, rule out older women entirely. According to studies, egg freezing is best done at the age of 37. Women with frozen eggs are twice as likely to become pregnant at this age as those who don’t. The clinic will have to remove as many eggs as possible after the patient reaches the age of 37. For a 50 percent probability of success, women over 40 will need well over 20 eggs. The clinic will need to extract substantially more to ensure success. When considering egg freezing as part of your family planning, keep this in mind.
When it’s just too late
When it comes to egg freezing, there is no time limit. The majority of clinics will make an effort to work with the patient. Some clinics, however, prefer to halt egg freezing at certain ages, particularly after the age of 42. At this moment, there will be insufficient high-quality eggs. The clinic may need to perform numerous cycles to obtain those high-quality eggs. Excessive cycles can be expensive, upsetting, and even harmful to one’s health. Even so, IVF success rates as low as 5.7 percent are possible. Donor eggs or gestational surrogacy are the two options with the best outcomes right now.
Get the proper guidance on your egg freezing journey
The success of egg freezing is linked to the age of the person. The window, however, may not yet be closed. Women beyond the age of 35 can still save one cycle of eggs and have a successful pregnancy in the future. Women over the age of 40 may require many cycles due to a decline in both quantity and quality. The best course of action is to consult a reproductive doctor or a fertility clinic. These clinics specialize in issues involving age and can offer the best egg freezing options available.