I do. Our entire budget is designed around affording infertility and then having a nice family life. I mentioned to the receptionist at the RE's today that after January we will have to pay 20 bucks per office visit instead of ten. Which is still better than Aetna( they were awful )which was 30 dollars a visit. So then I said to her that our out of network thingy was going from 300 to 600 per person. Then I said not counting office co-pays or prescriptions( or three years of pre-natals or the majilliion sonograms from my miscarriage or the 2 years of obgyn visits before this and all that testing) we had spent about 700 dollars so far at the RE's. Also not counting the relaxation cds, the organic food and cleaners etc etc. We told her it was great, because the bills we were seeing put us at at least 15 grand in medical tests in the just last 3 months. Maybe there are more bills I've forgotten about? I would have kept better records if I had known how long this would take.
And I think,if we did not have these benefits or if we could not pay these fees- we would have almost no chance at a baby.
The receptionist who is usually very pleasant and chatty did not want to talk about that with me. Maybe they are supposed to pretend I am just a friendly visitor who they like to probe vaginally and take body fluids from? And that I just like to leave money behind when I leave?
It is not like they are getting us pregnant our of the goodness of their heart. It's a service we are buying from them. Which is so strange to me. So many people just get pregnant by accident or with no effort. But we are trying and trying (and trying) and paying and paying and paying and so is everyone else in the IF community.
I don't know that I have a point with all this. Just that I feel like we are buying something most people never have to think of as a commodity.
Do you ever think about this?
4 comments:
Wow...quite a perspective! Actually, I have never thought of this journey as a service-expectation in the same way as one would go visit a restaurant or any other establishment.
It is obvious that none of these people are servicing us out of love for us. But that does not mean that if I am paying money, I am reducing the reward to a commodity!
I've had some thoughts about that lately... but they are so jumbled, but I get what you mean.
I think I spent about $300 this cycle (plus gas and time off work) and next cycle I imagine it will go up to about $600... but that is partly due to the acupuncture. I somewhat think that the more I do (or spend) the better my chances.
However, since this does cost a decent chunk of change, I think it's reasonable to expect GOOD service... however no one promises results. And I want to feel like this is more than a transaction for services.
Yes. I do feel like we are trying to buy a baby. I just wish I knew how much it is going to end up costing in the end. I've even gone so far as to be paranoid that perhaps the RE's office secretly hope for miscarriage, since they know we will be back with our credit cards soon.
It is quite the investment...
I feel that way even more, I keep counting money in my head... $3000 more until we can TRY to have a baby, $1500 more until we can TRY to have a baby...
What sucks is I can't even look at it as buying a baby, but rather a chance to TRY to have a baby. An investment that is high risk and can fall through at any given attempt. (Nope, I'm not jaded. Not at all.)
Nice insight :)
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