Watch the recording of the webinar on IVF refund and money-back guarantee programs offered by fertility clinics. What exactly is guaranteed? Will I get a full refund? Dimitris Kavakas, an international business development consultant experienced in the fertility travel sector and a CEO at Redia IVF Travel, talks about the topic.
IVF is a unique process in the sense that no matter how good the factors are, no matter if you have the perfect environment and the perfect fertility material, there is no guarantee that you have 100% success, there’s always a percentage of a failure in IVF. All the guarantee programs with refunds consist of several cycles that you need to go through before you will get a refund. On average, a patient needs about 3 cycles to be successful, which is why most of the IVF refund guarantee programs include 3 cycles of IVF.
Money-back guarantee program
Different providers of refund guarantee programs offer different guarantees. Therefore, it is very important to look at what is guaranteed. Is it a guarantee of a positive pregnancy test? This is possible to achieve, but you have to remember that, on average, there is a 15% risk of miscarriage, particularly in the first weeks of pregnancy. If you choose a such program and you miscarry, you will lose your money. Another possible guarantee is a heartbeat or the 3rd month of gestation guarantee. This is much better than the positive pregnancy test, however, there’s a small percentage, around 1 or 2%, that you may face a miscarriage later in the pregnancy. The third option is live birth, and this is what is offered by Redia. And it is a 100% money-back guarantee program.
You need to remember that for this kind of program, there is an age limitation, and there are also programs that are not 100% money-back guarantee programs.
Regarding the benefits of refund guarantee programs, there are 3 main elements. First, these are financial worries, at the end of the day, what you want is a baby, so to reach your desire you need to spend some money on doing IVF. A refund guarantee program can give you a solution, you know the price upfront, so you either get this program and pay a certain amount and you either get your baby or your money back. In the case of people with previous failed cycles, they have already spent some money on their treatments, and they don’t want to spend even more money and don’t know if it is going to work or not. The last factor is your peace of mind, you get financial freedom and get rid of the financial stress so that you can concentrate on your treatment.
Is it a 100% guarantee program? It all depends on the provider of the refund guarantee programs. The programs at Redia include eligibility criteria, the percentage depends on those criteria and the program you choose. If you meet the age criteria and the age criteria are mainly for IVF with own eggs, this is a 100% refund program, and the maximum age is 37. If you are 38 or 39, you are eligible for a 50% refund, and there is no refund program available for IVF with own eggs for women over 40 and over. That doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for someone at the age of 40 or 42 to have a baby with her own eggs, but programs for such patients are not viable because the odds are not good.
In egg donation guarantee programs, there are no age criteria, but they are applied by fertility clinics, therefore, that depends on the fertility clinic where the program is implemented.
Are medication included in the cost? It depends again on the provided, some include them in the cost, and some don’t. The program at Redia includes the costs so that you know exactly how much you will pay for the program.
I think it’s ethical to offer you an all-inclusive program to include all the basic costs, we cannot include the cost that cannot be predicted, but all the possible costs that we know that you will need we include in a program, so you have the financial freedom. We cover the cost of medication, so we either provide them through a partner pharmacy if there is a possibility to use one, or you buy the medication, and we refund the cost.
Case studies
The first case presented a couple who was successful with own eggs IVF on their 3rd cycle. They had 2 transfers in the 1st cycle, but it was not successful. They did a 2nd cycle again, another stimulation cycle, they only had 2 blastocysts, and 1 embryo was transferred but ended in a miscarriage in the first 6-7 weeks of pregnancy. They had a 3rd cycle, only 1 blastocyst, and this produced a pregnancy. It is an established pregnancy past the third month. Hopefully, all will be well, and it will end in a live birth.
Another case was an egg donation program, the first stimulation of the donor went well. They had 5 blastocysts, the first blastocyst was transferred, but it was not successful. The 2nd again was not successful, and then the 3rd transfer was done with 1 blastocyst, and it was a positive pregnancy, but it ended up in a miscarriage. Therefore, the couple moved to the 2nd cycle, and in the 2nd cycle, they got 4 blastocysts, but in the first transfer of the 2 embryos, they achieved a pregnancy, and they had a live birth after 9 months. They have 2 remaining embryos at the clinic, and if they ever decide to go for a second baby, they can just go to the clinic and pay for a frozen transfer and hopefully, they will succeed.
The third case presented a single woman who used egg and sperm donors and reached success in the first cycle. That was a double donation, not an embryo adoption, so the egg donor was stimulated, and all eggs were fertilized with sperm from the donor. Four blastocysts were created in this case, the first transfer failed of the first 2 embryos, but the second, which was a frozen transfer was successful and it ended with a live birth of twins, both of them succeeded.
The decision for transferring 1 or 2 embryos is up to you, it’s not the clinic’s decision or the doctor’s decision, they may recommend the transfer of 1 or 2 embryos based on your age and your medical history, but in the end, it is your decision. If you decide to have a single embryo transfer, you can have as many transfers as needed until you get success one by one.
Finally, the eligibility criteria include a hormonal check, ultrasound check, sperm check and as mentioned before age.