FINALLY...some good news!!

When I last left off, I was in talks with a potential insurance carrier that my job offers to see if they would cover our IVF prior to the 2-year of infertility stipulation. I was in good spirits because it looked as though we may be able to get coverage.

But, Wednesday was a bad day for the Worry Bud Family - the day just kept getting worse & worse. First, the answer from the insurance about waiving the 2-year IF stipulation prior to them covering 50% of IVF was NO. :o( Unfortunately, they cannot waive that & the guy who had been helping me said he did some research for me on the other potential carriers available to us in our area & none of them would be able to cover the IVF at this point either.

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As a result, we have decided to stick with our current insurance carrier - we are on separate insurance, but have the exact same insurance since we both selected the same carrier & work for the same employer (our insurance does not offer the "self + 1" option, only "self + family", so it's cheaper to stay on separate insurance until we have children). Our current insurance covers 85% of IF diagnosis & treatment, but 0% of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), so since we are still in the diagnosis/treatment phase, we are sticking with them. Although, if (God forbid) we are not pregnant by the end of next year, then we will most likely consider switching to the previously discussed provider, since we will be closer to the 2 year IF waiting period by that time. And with our employer, there are no pre-existing condition exclusions allowed for any of the insurance carriers.

Second thing that happened on Wednesday - we found out that Mr. WB's best friend & his wife are expecting. I am pretty good friends with his wife & they were not trying to get pregnant (although I have a suspicion, based on the discussion we had, that she may have been trying to get pg w/o him knowing - she's always trying to school me on the best time to have sex in order to achieve pg...little does she know, I know all that & then SOME about the subject!), but she was late & I told her to test, so she POAS & of course - BFP. Ugh. I hate feeling like this - they are both very excited/happy, so I'm happy for them, but it just sucks that we are dealing with this. I wish we could just be a "normal" couple, who could have sex & get pregnant. It's just that this whole ordeal has lessened the excitement of the "trying" part of TTC. Now it's more like GATC - getting assistance to conceive. I try to put on a happy face when others announce their pregnancy & I know it's not a race to get pg, but I just feel like we are beginning to get left behind because all of our friends are starting their families pretty easily (some even working on #2) & we are struggling to even get pregnant with our 1st. Sigh.

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And last but not least, my lovely AF decided to make an appearance on Wednesday evening. It started out light late on Wednesday, but my RE doesn't consider it CD 1 unless the flow starts before 5:30pm that day, so I marked it as spotting on Wednesday & AF/CD1 for Thursday. She brought along with her, a lovely set of cramps - thanks for that. So that means my LP is down again from 9 days to 8 days, but still better than previous cycles' 2-3 days.

But, finally, a bit of a silver lining in what has been a pretty horrible week for me - Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)! Hallelujah & praise God for them. Our employer offers an FSA that you can max out at $5K each year. The money is taken each pay period - PRE TAX, so it potentially puts you in a lower tax bracket & saves you money in the long run. The FSA is pre-funded for both of us, so it starts out with however much you elect to withhold. I had a lot of questions for the FSA program & got all of them answered, so here's our new plan to pay for IVF:

1. Both sign up for & max out both FSAs (spousal care is included, so I can use mine on him & he can use his on me if our individual FSA gets exhausted).
   
2. We will save as much as we can - approximately $1-$2K per month & finish up our testing/treatment prior to IVF. I am suspecting that Mr. WB will be seeing a urologist & perhaps getting some treatment to help improve his counts. And I will ask about getting on progesterone supplements for my LPD, so that we can continue to try on our own while we are doing the rest of the diagnostic testing & follow up with other specialists.
3. When/if we are recommended to go on to IVF, then we will put down as much as cash as possible, then finance the remaining portion thru Fertility Finance, which our RE is a participating provider with.
4. They will pay the balance on our account on our behalf prior to beginning actual IVF treatment.
5. Then we will get the statement showing the account is paid up from our RE & submit the claim form to our FSA.
6. The FSA will reimburse us $10K immediately & we will use that money to give to the finance company & then reimburse ourselves if any money is left over.

Oh & our current insurance company does cover some of the medications we will need for IVF - whew. So, I am hoping this all works out & we get a little one in my belly in 2010! We are currently still waiting on Mr. WB's medical records fromt he Dr. who performed his testicular torsion surgery & the results of the repeat S/A. Please continue to send all the T&P you have our way that this works out for us!!!

PS - I want to send special T&Ps out to Dandelion Bud - I am praying that your follies continue to grow as they should & you get your long awaited sticky little DB (or 2)!! And to Sugar Bud - I am so sorry for everything you are going thru & wish the best for you & Mr. SB...please let me know if there is anything you need.