Insurance for freezing eggs, prior to surgery?

[katherine]

Hello,
My sister is 28 and will have to go through a surgery requiring her to get her ovaries removed due to the spread of cancer. She wants to preserve/freeze her eggs prior to her operation but the insuarnce wont cover the procedure since she is currently fertile. Does anyone have any experience dealing with insurance on this issue. They dont seem to understand after surgery will be too late. ugh. Thanks for your help.

-Katherine

[Guest]

hey katherine,
i had both of my ovaries removed at 25, I tried to get doc to help with the fertility issues, but he wouldn't help, because he basically said that the surgery was just to extend my life. I had two insurances and neither would cover it, because it's considered an "elective procedure". sounds like her insurance won't cover it either. last i checked , it's about 10 grand to get them frozen.anyhow, i know how frustrating insurance companies can be, and unfortuneately, they are not there to help people, but to make money.hopefully, she can come up with the money somehow. sorry, i don't have any positive info for you. good luck to your sister.

[Traybug]

Hey Katherine,

My brother faced a similar battle. 31 with stage IV colon cancer, he had to freeze his sperm because they said he may or may not be fertile after chemo. Insurance would not cover it because it is an elective procedure. It truly is a raw deal. You would think that there would be some sort of stipulation when facing a major illness/health crisis but there isn't. You have to love it...most powerful nation in the world and our health care system is the pits....

Good luck to your sister!

[Hannah]

Hi Katherine,

I would be willing to be that her insurance won't cover it - but check out www.figgtree.com - Tammy Figg was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer six weeks before her wedding. She is a 2005 Colondar model who went through fertility treatments and is now a new mom to Ayden (who by the way is wonderful and ADORABLE!!).

Tammy's Foundation, the Figg Tree Foundation, offers individual grants up to $10,000 per year to help with treatment for colorectal cancer and for fertility treatments.

Hannah

[Jen28]

Hi Katherine,

I was 28 when I was diagnosed, and I had eggs harvested, fertilized and frozen before I started chemo to preserve fertility. I was lucky--my insurance covered it, though I wasn't expecting them to. The fertility doctor that my oncologist referred me to was also really wonderful. He told me up front that if insurance wouldn't cover the process, they would perform all of the services at a substantially reduced cost, though they wouldn't be able to do anything about the cost of the drugs, which are really expensive. Then the nurse that I worked with there made calls to pharmaceutical companies and got all of my fertility drugs donated. At the end, the doctor told me that he was going to submit bills to the insurance company, but if they denied coverage, they wouldn't charge me anything. Maybe your sister could see if her fertility specialist would consider volunteering his or her time and only charging for fixed costs or see if there's any way that the procedure could be done as part of a research study.


Also, there's a website called fertilehope.org that has fertility information specifically for people who are dealing with cancer-related fertility issues.

Jen

[tamfigg]

Please have your sister go to our site, or you go to our site. Our Foundation gives grants out to Colon Cancer patients and those having fertility issues and we would love to help preserve her eggs. go to
www.figgtree.com. I was able to harvest and implant and now have a 7 month old son. I had Stage III rectal cancer and was able to beat the odds and have kids.
Tammy Figg
www.figgtree.com