Freezing eggs for a future IVF
Hello! I am posting this question for my good friend who is not a member of BPN:
For someone looking to just freeze her eggs (for now, may need IVF in a couple of years), how did you choose amongst places like CCRM of SF, UCSF, or Stanford? Additional note: [She] has Kaiser insurance, so [she] believes everything will be out of pocket, so [she can't/is not planning] to eliminate choices based on coverage.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice/suggestions!
Oct 11, 2020
Parent Replies
I was referred to UCSF Center for Reproductive Health in Mission Bay by my OBGYN. They have been amazing. They have IVF orientations that your friend could attend and ask questions, learn about their process, and meet one of their drs (whoever is running the session). I never really shopped around, I just went with my OB's recommendation, so I can't really speak to how we chose between any particular place. But I can tell you that we've been very happy with the team and the experience. All my Drs were chosen prior to covid for ease of getting to and from there from work in SF, which is obviously a little different now. I might prefer someone closer to home if I was doing it all over again because there are a lot of appointments involved with IVF and while it is only 20 minutes most of the time, those 4pm appointments can be a bummer of a drive both ways.
Having gone through the egg freezing process, it's going to be far easier for her to go to a place where some of her costs may be covered. If she has Kaiser, she should look at Kaiser's fertility practice in SF. If she really wants to look around, get personal references and have folks tell you about their experiences. You can also talk about the success rates at each facility.
Find the doctor and staff that's right for her. Note: she will be seeing the STAFF a lot, even more so than the doc. So definitely get a feel for the NPs, nurses and office staff as well as the physician who honestly, you don't really see except for the initial consult and procedure.
Hi there, having done IVF with UCSF and having KP insurance, the decision to freeze eggs will came down to cost. IVF services are not covered by primary insurance (thank Republic Congress members who worked on the Affordable Care Act). Every facility has their own pricing. Happy to talk offline about this.
In 1999 we used UCSF because of affordability. Unfortunately there was a problem with the cryogenic device they used and my eggs were destroyed. UCSF refunded us the entire cryogenic fee which as I recall wasn’t much, perhaps near 1K. My husband only wanted one child and I was happy having twins.
I’m certain they’ve got it right by now.
I did IVF at Laurel Fertility clinic in SF with Dr. Ekpo. I highly recommend her. I've had very good outcomes based on my age and been successful getting pregnant both times we did embryo transfers.
So I did the egg retrieval process in addition to IVF. I paid out of pocket for everything. It was expensive but turns out worth every penny. Is there any way she can change her insurance and then do the egg retrieval and freeze?
Also keep in mind once you freeze the eggs you then pay a monthly storage fee to keep them frozen, ours is $125/month. It's all very expensive so might be worth changing insurance ahead of time even if her monthly premium is really high.