Q: If I have insurance that states it pays for my fertility evaluation and treatment, why do I have to pay for special tests and treatments?

A: Read your policy carefully. Many times evaluation and treatments have limitations. For example, it may not cover intrauterine insemination but does pay for ovulation drugs. There may be a lifetime dollar amount that applies to fertility . Most insurance companies contract with a laboratory (ie. Quest, Labcore) to provide lab testing. If your tests are available from these labs, then you will not have to pay for those tests. There are special tests (immune studies such as embryo toxicity assay and natural killer-cell phenotype and comprehensive semen analysis with ultraspecific morphology) that are not available from these labs. You are expected to pay for these tests. You can file for these tests with your insurance company; however they may not reimburse you at all or at a lesser amount. There are times during your treatment when blood tests results must be available to us on the same day they were drawn- ie. estrogen levels during ovulation stimulation to determine your medication dose- the contracted laboratories with your insurance cannot provide this stat (available that day) service during both week days and weekends. You will be responsible for part or all of those charges depending on your policy coverage.