It’s now official. Disney withdrew WABC, channel 7 from Cablevision affecting 3 million viewers in the New York Metropolitan area. My wife is distraught. Her favorite television shows; Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Lost and others are no longer viewable on our TV sets. The Oscars is not available. She like so many others is frustrated and depressed at the prospect that she will be denied those pleasures that we have grown accustomed to expect.

My wife and I never truly experienced infertility. We had a workup for recurrent miscarriages and it took us over a year to conceive a healthy pregnancy in between our two boys and two girls. We were quite fortunate that we were not denied the joy of building our family that we had learned to expect while growing up, observing our own as well as our friends’ and neighbors’ families. It is a way of life that we understand as well as anything else that we experience throughout our lives.

When a couple experiences infertility, this expected right to the pursuit of happiness by creating one’s own family is denied. It is not deserved; the affected are innocent bystanders of a tragedy not of their own making. Someone afflicted with infertility might have just as randomly caught a cold or some other disease or condition. The difference is that if you unfortunately have any other condition or disease requiring medical treatment, the odds are excellent that you have insurance coverage for it. Infertility is not covered by most providers not because of ethical or religious reasons or even lack of sympathy, but instead because it costs money to the providers.

Cablevision and Disney are battling over a 40 million dollar increase to Disney. How I wish they would use the argument that they have increased costs to cover safe, cost effective fertility care like IVF; that they wish to provide for the right for their employees to have a family like they grew up seeing in Disney movies and on Cablevision. Senator Kerry, former presidential candidate interceded to try to negotiate a settlement so that my wife and others would not be denied their TV shows. Why can’t we get a similar hero to negotiate a settlement for coverage so that the infertile couple can get the treatment they need so they are not denied their families?

IVF is now cost effective and safe when used conservatively especially with our single embryo transfer program. We have a greater than 60% live birth rate per retrieval in women under 35. We can avoid multiple pregnancies by transferring one embryo at a time rather than expose a woman to a 35% multiple rate with ovulation induction and intercourse or insemination. Minimal stimulation IVF is a low cost alternative, $3900 at ECF that avoids hyperstimulation and allows for single embryo transfer. Why do politicians ignore the millions of infertile individuals and couples in this country and deny them the right to have their family that they grew up expecting as naturally as tuning into ABC and watching a favorite TV show?

The IVF Guarantee Program works by making it easier for patients to commit to a multi-cycle treatment package — which increases the likelihood of success. The East Coast Fertility Program is unique in offering up to six stimulation and retrieval cycles as well as unlimited frozen embryo transfers until a live baby is born for an upfront, fixed and discounted fee*.    If a live birth occurs then the fee is retained.  If treatment does not occur in a live birth, 100% of the fee is refunded, leaving couples with resources for other family building options.

To qualify for this program, patients must be self-pay patients and be considered appropriate candidates for IVF, as determined by East Coast Fertility.  Candidates will undergo a detailed review of their infertility and medical history.

The cost of this program varies depending on the woman’s age, history and exam. Other variables within this program, including those costs not included in the program, should be discussed with the Financial Counselor at East Coast Fertility.

Egg Freezing Study

East Coast Fertility provides sliding scale grants including the NYS DOH grant that are based on income.  In addition, East Coast Fertility is conducting a research study on egg freezing.  Patients participating in this study obtain free medication and get free ICSI, cryopreservation, embryo storage and frozen embryo transfers as well as co culture, assisted hatching and embryo glue.  Half the eggs are used in the study and half are treated in the usual IVF fashion.  The eggs in the study are frozen, thawed 1-2 hours later and inseminated.  These embryos are transferred in the stimulation cycle.  The embryos created in the usual IVF fashion are frozen for transfer in a subsequent cycle if pregnancy is not achieved.  Patients may return for frozen embryo transfers for free until a live baby or embryos are exhausted.  The IVF, ICSI, meds, cryo and frozen embryo transfers typically costs well over $20,000.  The cost to a patient accepted for the ECF grant for the entire study program is $6900.

Other innovative cost saving programs at ECF include the Single Embryo Transfer (SET) Program, where for the standard single cycle IVF fee; cryo, embryo storage and unlimited frozen embryo transfers are offered for free.  MicroIVF is a minimal stimulation IVF program offered for $3900 and may be combined with SET program.

According to Dr. David Kreiner, Medical Director of East Coast Fertility, “My wish is to assist all patients in need with creating that healthy family of their dreams without adding unnecessary risk.  These programs help them in their quest.”

East Coast Fertility also offers convenient, low interest rate financing for all the IVF Programs. To learn if you are a candidate for any of the discount IVF programs at East Coast Fertility, please call us at 516-939-2229 to make an appointment for a consultation.

(*Note: certain restrictions apply and should be discussed with the Financial Counselor at East Coast Fertility.  Anesthesia and medication costs are not included in the program).

Fifty eight percent of infertile couples who chose not to pursue therapy cited cost as the primary reason. About 7 percent of couples with frozen embryos discarded them from October 2008 to March 2009, representing a nearly three time increase from the prior six months. Fifty seven percent of egg donors in 2008 planned to use the money they earned from donation to pay for school, up from 28 percent from 2002-2004.

In the New York Metropolitan area, most programs see only about 20% of patients who do not have insurance to pay for their IVF cycles. Furthermore, it is estimated that for every patient who does an IVF cycle at least another 2 to 3 would also benefit from the fertility therapy. Unfortunately, for those with an insurance cap and for those paying out of pocket there is an enormous financial pressure for these patients to conceive in the fewest number of cycles to minimize the cost and hence transfer multiple embryos with a resulting increase in multiple pregnancies and the complications of premature deliveries; medical, emotional and financial.

New York State offers a grant for patients in need of IVF that is income based and diminishes the entire cost of the cycle for some lower middle income patients to just a few thousand dollars. However, even this rich program does not cover the cost of frozen embryo transfers and therefore still encourages patients to transfer multiple embryos. Other IVF programs, including my own offer our own income based grant programs and IVF studies significantly reducing the cost of a cycle and making it affordable to nearly everyone in need.

The problem remains that none of these programs discourage patients from “putting all their eggs in one basket” and risking the dangerous multiple pregnancies. Two years ago, I proposed an alternative financial program that does eliminate the financial need to maximize one’s chance of conceiving in a single cycle. It is called the Single Embryo Transfer Program at East Coast Fertility. A couple pays the standard $12,000 fee and the egg freezing, storage and frozen embryo transfers are included for an unlimited number of times until they have their baby. I wonder if patients knew about this program if cost would still stand in their way. The beautiful part is we would avoid these risky multiple pregnancies and according to the CDC, in addition to avoiding the medical, emotional and financial hardships caused by the multiple pregnancies, it would save $1billion per year if this program was utilized by all patients who are candidates for it throughout the country.

Yet another side effect of this economic downturn and lack of insurance coverage for IVF has been the fact that patients can have a gonadotropin/IUI cycle for free with a 30 percent risk of multiples and 5 percent risk of triplets or more if their insurance covers it but not the safer IVF alternative where one can control how many embryos to transfer. For patients paying out of pocket many still choose to risk multiples with the less expensive gonadotropin/IUI cycle despite its much lower success rate.

But, all couples don’t need a full stimulation IVF cycle. Many couples could try a lower stimulation IVF known as “MicroIVF”. The cost of MicroIVF varies but at my program it is offered for example at $3900, approximately the cost of a gonadotropin/IUI cycle and a far cry from the average cost of IVF. MicroIVF does not have the affect on the body that a gonadotropin cycle has nor the high risk of multiple pregnancy. It can be combined with the Single Embryo Transfer Program as well.

It is apparent that we have not done a good enough job communicating to patients about how they can afford fertility treatment with insurance or without. Money can be a barrier to having so many things, let’s not make it a barrier for couples to have families. We have to do a better job of letting them know about the solutions that are available to them so that they can afford to get the care that they need to make their dreams of a family come true.

According to the Center for Disease Control, reported in the same NY Times issue, thousands of premature deliveries would be prevented resulting in a $1.1 Billion savings if elective single embryo transfer was performed on good prognosis patients. That brings us to regulating how many embryos to transfer as Octomom went through IVF with transfer of six embryos. At East Coat Fertility, we make it cost neutral to transfer only one embryo at a time by offering free cryopreservation, free embryo storage and free embryo transfers until a patient achieves a live birth, all for the cost of a single IVF cycle. Patients are encouraged by this program not to put all their eggs in one basket. Success rates with an elective fresh single embryo transfer with IVF at our program, is 50% and with subsequent frozen embryo transfers it is over 64%. It is possible that East Coast Fertility is the only center in the country doing this. That is the shame of it.

Fertility treatment without IVF is even more hazardous since as many eggs that are developed with treatment may implant and lead to a hazardous multiple pregnancy. In a perfect world, where a patient’s welfare was put before insurance companies, IVF would be a covered service for all people, and the use of fertility medications in an uncontrolled IUI cycle would not be used anymore. In this perfect world, we would also regulate how many embryos are transferred. It is time to put our professional recommendations of the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) into law. There is flexibility built into the recommendations taking into account critical factors such as patient age, embryo quality and past experience.

It is not until we discourage the use of gonadotropins without IVF by offering IVF as a regulated covered alternative will we eliminate risky multiple pregnancies. Until then, all of us including society, the government, insurance companies and employers are to blame for letting these dangerous multiple pregnancies occur.

East Coast Fertility is offering a free seminar: What You Need to Know Now If You Are Trying to Have a Baby: Innovations in the Treatment and Financing of Infertility. There is no charge for attendees, and all are eligible to receive a free fertility consultation with Dr. Kreiner and a discount coupon for some fertility medications. Don’t miss this chance to learn from these renowned fertility experts.

Plainview, NY (PRWEB) September 14, 2009 — East Coast Fertility is offering a free seminar: What You Need to Know Now If You Are Trying to Have a Baby: Innovations in the Treatment and Financing of Infertility. Attend this special night of hope and information and get answers to all of your questions. The seminar is hosted by fertility pioneer Dr. David Kreiner, founder of East Coast Fertility, and Pamela Madsen, founder of The American Fertility Association. They will be discussing topics such as Micro IVF, Single Embryo Transfer, Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), and Grant Programs to help finance treatment. There is no charge for attendees, and all are eligible to receive a free fertility consultation with Dr. Kreiner and a discount coupon for some fertility medications. Don’t miss this chance to learn from these renowned fertility experts.

There are two opportunities to attend the event: Thursday, September 17th at 6:30pm at the Marriott Long Island Hotel & Conference Center in Uniondale, NY and Monday, September 21st at 6:30pm at Danford’s Inn Marina Conference Center in Port Jefferson, NY. Questions about the seminars can be directed to Karen Malamud at (516) 939-BABY.

Dr. Kreiner and Ms. Madsen are offering these seminars to highlight Micro IVF as a more successful alternative to IUI and a more economical choice to IVF. Micro-IVF lowers the cost of in vitro treatment by more than half, and Dr. Kreiner believes that its success rate is much higher than the 10% chance of achieving pregnancy through a single IUI treatment. It is also more favorable for patients, as the procedure usually requires less fertility medications to be administered. Join them for this seminar to learn about what options are best for you. For more information on Dr. Kreiner and fertility treatments, visit East Coast Fertility.

ABOUT East Coast Fertility: East Coast Fertility is the premier center for infertility care on Long Island. Conceived by Dr. David Kreiner, a pioneer of IVF, their program utilizes the most recent developments in reproductive technology and has evolved to become a leader for highly successful and personalized infertility and IVF care. The center prides itself on combining the best technology and expertise with compassion for its patients. They offer many convenient locations throughout Long Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Lets break it down for you.  We have the NYState DOH grant that for patients who qualify for this income based grant will pay between $2,000 and $12,000.  The amount of money provided by the state is limited so it is not available for patients who require high doses of medication.  It does include frozen embryo storage for 1 year and 1 frozen embryo transfer, ICSI and medications.

1- NY State DOH grant based on combined income includes 1 year of storage and 1 FET, meds and anesthesia is covered. Does not include Procedure room fee + assisted hatching = $1500.

2- ECF grant- $6950-$9950 based on combined income from <$100k- 200k, $6950 for $100k and lower, 1/2 price for all additional procedures, meds, anesthesia and procedure room fee not covered but PR fee 1/2 price ,$500.

3- Embryo freezing study- $3000 stipend, most meds covered, coculture and embryo glue included. Procedure room fee not included. If combined with ECF grant basic IVF cost is $6950. If pt selected for freeze all then cryo and storage for 1 yr and up to 3 FET free.

4- Egg freezing study- most meds covered, coculture and embryo glue and ICSI, procedure room fee and anesthesia included. Cryo and FET of frozen eggs included. Cost $8850.

5- Mini (Micro) IVF- minimal stimulation IVF $4900. Through the month of June $3900. This includes monitoring, retrieval, transfer and basic IVF lab and procedure room fee. Does not include meds, anesthesia ($550)- optional, ICSI or any other additonal IVF procedures other than basic.

If you have a question regarding these programs, please don’t hesitate to contact me at dkreiner@eastcoastfertility.com.