The Eternal Guest Room

As I’m about to start the process of ordering yet ANOTHER round of fertility medications, I thought it might be enlightening to share some information with you about what these procedures cost. Not because I necessarily want to tell you how much money we’re spending on this, but more to help you understand what a financial risk these procedures are. Plus, I think it helps to understand one aspect of why it’s so devastating when they fail (in addition to the emotional aspects).

Every doctor’s office is different and there are a variety of ways to do an IUI, but here is what our full injectible cycle costs BEFORE insurance (which not everyone has):

Actual cost of IUI itself: $300

Sperm washing: $200

Sonograms (in our past cycles we’ve had 3 sonograms, at $300 each): $900

Blood work (including a mandatory pregnancy test, even if you know it’s negative): $100

Medications: $700

If you’re still with me, that’s a whopping $2200. Now fortunately our insurance does cover some of this – they cover a chunk of the sonograms and blood work, but no meds and nothing for the actual IUI.

So our cost is:

IUI: 300 – sperm washing: 200 – blood work: 15 – medications: 700 – sonograms: 90 – for a grand total of around $1300. Per attempt. Regardless of the outcome.

When I look back at the amount of money we’ve spent so far, I feel sick. I can think of a million other things I’d rather be spending that money on. I know that people like to say you can’t put a monetary value on things like having children, and it’ll all be worth it in the end, etc., etc., and I know that’s true, but at the same time it’s a tough thing to think about. The people who say that also aren’t facing the possibility of spending every last dime that they have on procedures that may not even work, ever. If it works, it’ll be worth it. But if it doesn’t, it’s just money down the drain.

So that’s what it costs.