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Getting insurance to cover PGD

For those of you that have gone thru invitro and PGD, have any of your insurance companies covered the procedures? If so, would you mind sharing any advice or copies of any letters you sent if they were what convinced the insurance company to cover it?

We hope to do the procedure in early November, and I'm wondering if that's enough time to try to get BCBS to cover it ...

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Permalink Reply by lisa burke on May 23, 2012 at 6:00am

Hi Veronica,

I don't have any advice to offer you regarding insurance as I live in the UK, but I just wanted to wish you all the very best with the PGD. I've been through it and it resulted in the birth of my beautiful, healthy baby boy Reggie. I hope you'll be just as successful.

Take care.

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Permalink Reply by Veronica E. on May 23, 2012 at 11:20am

Thank you, Lisa! I'm excited and nervous about this whole thing! If you don't mind me asking a couple of questions (and feel free to message me separately if you like!):

Were you successful the first time?

How old were you when you had Reggie (love that name, by the way!)

How many embryos did you implant?

That's nice and nosey!

lisa burke said:

Hi Veronica,

I don't have any advice to offer you regarding insurance as I live in the UK, but I just wanted to wish you all the very best with the PGD. I've been through it and it resulted in the birth of my beautiful, healthy baby boy Reggie. I hope you'll be just as successful.

Take care.

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Permalink Reply by lisa burke on May 23, 2012 at 12:31pm

Hi Veronica,

No problem at all! I'm happy to answer any questions, and it's nothing that I consider that needs to be 'private'.

We were successful first time (we were told we had about a 30% chance of success - actually slightly higher than going the - ahem - 'natural' method...). I was 37 when they collected my eggs and made the embryos, and 38 when I gave birth to Mr Reg. The pregnancy was uncomplicated and Reggie was a whopping 9lb 10oz - so nice and healthy! I only had one embryo put in as the clinic I used (Guys Hospital in London) generally only advises one if you are healthy and your embryos are good quality (due to the small risk of complications with a multiple pregnancy). Reggie wasn't actually even the 'highest grade' of embryo, but he was 'hatching' the first. He continues to be very forward!!

Don't worry about the whole thing. You'll be fine.

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Permalink Reply by Veronica E. on May 23, 2012 at 1:27pm

Thanks, Lisa. I'll be 37 in December, so my timing will be quite similar to yours. In doing a little online research, I have noticed a difference in recommendations on the number of embryos to implant between the US and other countries. We're still on the fence about implanting one or two ... Everyone around me seems to have a "no big deal" attitude about the possibililty of twins, but I do worry about complications, pre-term babies, etc. I guess we'll see what the embryos are like and decide from there!

lisa burke said:

Hi Veronica,

No problem at all! I'm happy to answer any questions, and it's nothing that I consider that needs to be 'private'.

We were successful first time (we were told we had about a 30% chance of success - actually slightly higher than going the - ahem - 'natural' method...). I was 37 when they collected my eggs and made the embryos, and 38 when I gave birth to Mr Reg. The pregnancy was uncomplicated and Reggie was a whopping 9lb 10oz - so nice and healthy! I only had one embryo put in as the clinic I used (Guys Hospital in London) generally only advises one if you are healthy and your embryos are good quality (due to the small risk of complications with a multiple pregnancy). Reggie wasn't actually even the 'highest grade' of embryo, but he was 'hatching' the first. He continues to be very forward!!

Don't worry about the whole thing. You'll be fine.

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Permalink Reply by lisa burke on May 24, 2012 at 6:07am

Hi Veronica,

Yes, there's certainly a wide variation in whether clincis recommend one or two embryos. I think a lot offer two (or sometimes more) because it increases the chances of a pregnancy and therefore benefits their success rates, which is understandable. A lot has to do with the quality of the embryos too I believe. I was told that the embryos get a 'score' based on the bit that makes the baby, and the bit that makes the placenta. The grading is usually done alphabetically so you may end up with an AA, an AB, a BA etc, etc. Anything CC and above is classed as healthy and viable I think. If you have some really high grade embryos the clinic may decide to only implant one, or if you have a couple of ok-but-not-so-brilliant-looking ones they may choose to implant two to increase the chance of at least one 'taking'. The grade of the embryo has no bearing on the future health of the baby, just on the likelihood of achieving a pregnancy. I find the whole process just amazing!

You may have read this too, but one other thing I was told at Guys is that once a woman has achieved a previous pregnancy, she's more likely to succeed with fertility treatment. Apparently your body 'remembers' how to support a pregnancy.

Really wishing you all the best with this. Reggie is my beautiful little ray of sunshine and has made us all smile again, despite the heartbreak of Seth's diagnosis. You deserve this joy more than most.