Ontario, Canada specific IVF question

Da

Da

I really don’t know the answer to this question but maybe someone can answer it for me. My husband and I live in Toronto. The Ontario government gives one free round of <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IVF</a> per person. However, there’s a catch. The waitlist is extremely long. We’ve been on the list for 6 months now. In the interim we did regular cycle monitoring with TI and 2 IUIs. The funding usually comes in in February and you’re notified in April from participating clinics if you’ve been selected. It’s absolutely ridiculous that there’s a waitlist and that they can do this to struggling couples and individuals, but I’m past that angry point now lol.

We contacted our clinic to get a quote about how much it would cost for <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IVF</a>. They quoted us $14,000 with an additional $5000-6500 in medications. My husband asked a really good question and I don’t know the answer to it. If for whatever reason they don’t retrieve any eggs is there a refund or credit? I never even thought to ask this. Does anyone know?

I know that Procrea (with only 2 participating clinics in Ontario) off The Multi-Cycle Discount Program which allows for the transfer of all resulting embryos when you choose either two or three egg retrievals, as well as an unlimited number of Frozen Embryo Transfers (FETs). Those who qualify may be eligible for:

• Up to a 50% Refund: Patients who choose a two-cycle plan.

• Up to a 100% Refund: Patients who choose a three-cycle plan.

But this would mean we need to switch clinics.

165 views • 1 upvote • 7 comments

COMMENT (7)

Al

Posted at
Hello fellow Canadian! Sorry to hear you’re also going through the infertility struggle! I live in Alberta and nothing is covered so we are on the hook for ~$20,000 but no wait time. Our testing is done and just waiting for my next cycle to start. If I was able to get some coverage and wait, I’d probably try to save a few bucks but there would definitely be many factors to consider. Our health care system has its perks but the waiting is killer especially for this sort of thing. I hope you guys get some good news soon and things start to move forward. Best of luck either way!

Da

Da • Feb 15, 2020
Thank you! To you as well 💕

Ly

Posted at
Hey D! Wow I wish I knew a clinic offered those types of services before! I would change and do that for sure. I was on the gov waitlist as of feb last year but my clinic has a 2 year wait. Being 34 at the time and trying for 2.5 years, I didn’t want to wait any longer so we were able to stay on the waitlist but go for a private round. Expensive, 10k + all the add ons and meds. We ended up with 2 frozen embryos. We transferred our first in October and it was successful. I’m 21 weeks. We have one embryo left that we hope to transfer after our baby turns 1. Since we don’t have a safety net and want 2 kids, I’m allowed to go back in the waitlist as of my 3rd trimester (I got taken off when I graduated from the fertility clinic). So, hopefully we won’t need to use it but it’s nice the gov still offers this funding after a successful pregnancy. If you and hubs can afford it I highly recommend going private as we all know after trying so long, we are more then ready to have that baby!

Da

Da • Feb 15, 2020
Thank you SO MUCH for your advice. Congrats 🎉! I think that’s what we’re leaning towards doing. Private round and then if for whatever reason it doesn’t work, we’ll wait for the funding. Such a hard decision though!

Al

Posted at
I don’t live in Ontario, but government programs don’t ever have guarantees. You get one round no matter what. If you have good numbers and tests and everything aside from male factor, you have a good chance of getting embryos and hopefully a baby. But you never know, and if you have lower numbers or other concerns, it might not hurt to look at plan b options. I would ask if you can still get your free round if you do another round somewhere else first, or if you forfeit it to go elsewhere.

Al

Alex • Feb 15, 2020
Well that’s good!!!

Da

Da • Feb 15, 2020
I’ve checked with them and looked up the the requirements and restrictions. You could do 100 rounds of IVF and still get a free round when your name comes up on the list.