The cost of having private fertility testing and/or treatment in places like the UK/Ireland/America/Canada and Australia is one of the biggest reasons people first consider leaving their home comforts to go abroad for treatment, such as IUI, IVF with ICSI, donor egg or sperm IVF, or donor embryo.
Own egg IVF with ICSI treatment begins at £2000 in Europe, which offers phenomenal value compared to say the UK, where a round of treatment is approximately £10k on average, some may cost a bit less and some much more than that. There are even more savings to be made if having donor conception treatment, by going abroad too, or if you are based in countries like Australia or America where treatment is significantly more expensive than in the UK.
In the UK prices for treatment can appear much cheaper than they are when browsing clinic websites and brochures. However, in many cases everything needed for a cycle of IVF with ICSI for example, is not included as standard and not always transparently stated and so costs can increase quite dramatically when you get the ACTUAL bill.
This can have a massive impact. It makes budgeting ahead really hard and by the time people often realise the actual costs they have already begun the process and are therefore already committed and then it's too late.
It can place people under a lot of financial pressure and mean that for some people they will run out of money sooner, which might be the difference between becoming a parent or not, expanding their families or not as sadly we all know that often fertility treatment does not always work first time.
With budget airlines now offering lots of low cost flights out to many of the popular IVF destinations this can make travel accessible and inexpensive and you can also find some bargains in terms of accommodation too which helps to reduce the costs of these.
In my experience there seems to be more transparency when going abroad around the actual cost of treatment, what is and is not included and with more being included as standard. For example ICSI is often included in the price of having IVF abroad in Europe, but in the UK and other places it is charged as an additional cost at around £1500.
Clarity around costings helps people to more accurately budget for treatment costs without any nasty surprises later on down the line. Also lots of clinics abroad offer free, or low cost first consultations that are then refunded off treatment and then any further consultations are free. So you can actually suss them out first.
Going abroad can give you the best chance of successful treatment based on your budget, as you are making your money stretch further should you need it and means that you know that you did everything you could to help achieve your dream or creating or expanding your family.
It also means that there could be money in the budget to get some support, to help you understand the process and intricacies to make informed decisions, to find the right, safe clinic and destination for you and to decrease stress and overwhelm through support during this difficult time.
Your IVF abroad offers a range of services that can help you on your journey with fertility treatment in Europe, wherever you are based in the world and even if you have not decided to go abroad.
We offer a 30 minute complimentary consultation with no obligation, to discuss your needs, our services and to see if we are a good fit. Please contact us on hello@yourivfabroad.co.uk if you are interested in setting one up.
Love Emma, Co-founder Your IVF abroad xxx