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 IVF Treatment in Ireland - Insurance Info
 
 12/28/2008 1:31:59 AM
Baby
21 posts


IVF Treatment in Ireland - Insurance Info

Hello ladies, I am new to this forum, but not new to IVF with ICSI treatment. We do reside in the USA, and have had 2 IVF w/ ICSI cycles for the past 2 years. Here if you are lucky you might have insurance to cover part of your expenses, including meds. I was wondering if anyone can give me some more info for the insurance coverage of the IVF treatment in Ireland. Is there such coverage at all? If not, how much would it cost? I was able to get some scares info from the internet, and some clinics advertised prices in the 5K-6K euros. Would that be right? Here in the US it could be anywhere from $9K and up, and this does not include the meds. I would be grateful to anyone that enlightens me a bit. I will be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding the infertility treatment here in the USA, and in general in regards to the blood work, etc...

 12/30/2008 9:55:07 PM
Claire
11 posts


Re: IVF Treatment in Ireland - Insurance Info
Hi Baby
Our insurance in this country does not cover IVF however if you pay taxes in Ireland you can claim back 20% of the costs (it used to be 41% but the last government budget in 2008 changed it to 20%). In Ireland we have a medication scheme in which you only pay the first €90 of any prescription and the government pay the rest (again I think you must have to reside in this country to avail of this scheme), if you had to pay the full amount for the medication it would be around €5,000.00
 
The IVF costs for Clane Hospital (where I’ve had my treatment) are €3,750.00 this price includes your bloods (including pregnancy test), scans and egg retrieval, the is an extra cost of €130.00 for Heb C and HIV bloods tests (each so total for two is €260.00). I have not had an ICSI cycle so I’m not sure what the costs are but here is the website which has all the price lists www.clanehospital.ie . I’m also giving you the Sims Fertility Clinic website (www.sims.ie click on ‘site map’ at top of page then you’ll find ‘price list’ towards the end of the list), Sims are a little bit more expensive but I’ve heard very good things about them and a friend of mine recently became pregnant with them.
 
There is also a website that you may find interesting www.citizensinformation.ie this site has loads of info on lots of things in Ireland, if you run a search for ivf you should get something.
 
I wonder if you would have any info on Fertility Clinics around California - San Francisco would be ideal.
 
Hope this helps
 
Claire
 12/30/2008 10:47:21 PM
Baby
21 posts


Re: IVF Treatment in Ireland - Insurance Info

Dear Claire,

Thank you so much for your reply and for the valuable information. I visited the citizensinformation.ie web site, and was amazed to find out that there is no coverage at all for the IVF , however, even the cost coverage of the meds and test are of great help I think. I saw that there are different types of healthcare Schemes, do any of them cover at least part of the treatment? How much does it cost to be a member of any of the healthcare schemes? I was not able to find info except one, the VHE I think, it said somewhere it was about €2,200.00/anually for family of two. We are considering job offer in Ireland, and I know that is our only option to have a biological child, that is why I am interested in the Irish system. Here we are pretty familiar with all the details, even though the prices vary from clinic to clinic, as well as the meds. There are some states that do have infertility coverage insurance, but it depends on your employer whether they offer it. I guess it is the same in Ireland, something similar to the healthcare schemes, we do have insurance companies here, and every employer has different ins. company they are contracted with.

Once again, thank you so much Claire for your reply and wonderful help. I whish you all the best in the upcoming New Year, and hope you reach your quest for a baby. It seams that it does not matter where you live in the world, we the women with reproductive challenges, have similar lives and bumps on our road I wish there were less women like me out there

 12/31/2008 12:48:55 AM
Baby
21 posts


Re: IVF Treatment in Ireland - Insurance Info

Claire, I am not sure if you were asking me for info for IVF clinics in San Francisco? I live in NC, and have had treatment at REACH, their web site is http://www.reachdrs.com/. I have not had success with them, but their success rates are very high. We have bilateral infertility issues and that just makes it much harder for us. IVF with ICSI would cost you $11,000 with them. This does not include the meds, and does not include the blood work prior to the treatment begining, but they can use blood work done recently @ other locations. I see dr. Wing, and like his team. There are several docs in this clinic and they all work together. Insemination is very inexpensive here if you use your partner's semen. I've also looked at clinics in the Czech Republic http://www.myivfalternative.com/. One of my co-workers is considering using this clinic. She has started the process, but she is using egg donor. Here at REACH for egg donor it will cost you about $30,000 or so, using your partner's semen. I will dig up some more info for clinics in San Francisco if you would like me to, I will be happy to do that. The tax system here allows you to include in your deductions as much medical expenses as you have, but it makes no sense to file them if they are under $10,000. Unfortunately, with IVF with ICSI, you would definately run over $15,000, and you can include all of that in your tax return, I have forgotten, but not all of it is 100% deductable, there is a form with a formula and only part of this amount edns up being substracted. But it is at least something.

Once again, I thank you so much for your friendly reply. I will be glad to help you with any info I can here for the US should you need.

 12/31/2008 1:07:21 AM
Claire
11 posts


Re: IVF Treatment in Ireland - Insurance Info
Hi Baby
 
Basically no mater what plan you get they do not cover IVF I called a couple of months ago and they told me none of the plans covered it (however things change all the time so you can always give them a call). 
 
In Ireland we only have two or three health insurance companies (VHI, Quinn and Hibernian) most people are with VHI as they are partly funded by the government so they are the most stable (the website is www.vhi.ie click on ‘products’ at top of page then click on Plan A-E & options’ this explains the different plans). A quick explanation of the different plans and how they work is... Plan ‘A’ is the lowest health plan you can get and plan ‘E’ is the best, the difference between all of them is weather they cover private or semi private rooms (semi being 6 or less in a room, I think!). Also some of the plans cover private hospitals and some don’t. The other difference is how much money you get back from doctors visits. Personally I think that plan B is fine, I always think of the other plans for people in there 60’s 70’s who might be making more visits to hospitals.
 
So as health insurance does not cover IVF the only thing (I think) that you’ll be able to claim back is 20% of all the costs (including consultants, IVF, ICSI, Blood tests etc).
 
Claire
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