Do you ever think about how much money you would have in the bank if fertility treatments came with refunds? Considering I paid for over 20 intrauterine inseminations (IUIs), three surgeries, and over two years worth of three different types of hormones, I probably do not even want to know the total cost. It might make me really ill.
Isn’t it annoying how most things come with money-back guarantees but fertility treatments do not? I am paid for each post that I write on this blog. I do not get paid whether or not my words are published each day. I can’t say, “Well, I had writer’s block but I just pounded out some unrelated stuff” and get paid for that. I don’t pay a restaurant that fails to deliver my food. So, why am I in the hole for thousands of dollars of fertility treatments when I never once achieved a pregnancy?
The doctor comes in, does his thing, and then gets paid. The outcome is not tied into the charge. Whether or not I achieve my dream of conceiving a baby, the doctor still has the next payment on his Corvette. There is something fundamentally wrong about that.
I am sure that anyone working a fertility clinic would tell me that these procedures are expensive and that someone has to pay for them. Also, when it comes to medical science, results cannot be guaranteed. I never thought about it before, but doctors seem to have a lot in common with meteorologists, who can predict the weather, be wrong on a regular basis, and still keep the job.
I have heard that some fertility clinics offer a program in which the couple pays a flat fee that buys up to six months of treatments. If they conceive right away, then the profit goes to supplement those who need all six treatments. That sounds like a step in the right direction, but I still feel for those who pay the whole fee and walk away six months later with no baby.
Adoption is expensive, too, but I walked away from that experience with a baby in my arms, so that cushioned the blow to my bank account. However, the thought of sinking thousands of dollars into two fertility clinics with nothing to show for it is depressing.
Maybe fertility clinics should collaborate with adoption agencies and come up with a plan in which you pay a certain amount of money and then move straight into adoption after X number of failed fertility attempts. At least then, everyone would leave with a baby in arms.
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Photo Credit: Lynda Bernhardt
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