Learn more about the injectable medications used in the egg freezing and IVF process.
Which injection medications you’ll probably be using:
- Gonal-F or Follistim (follicle stimulating hormone), used to stimulate egg production
- Menopur, a combination hormonal medication (follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone), also used to stimulate egg production
- Ganirelix Acetate or Cetrotide, medications used to prevent premature release of the eggs before you’re ready for your egg retrieval procedure
- Lupron (also known as leuprolide acetate), a type of “trigger” medication used to initiate the final egg maturation before the retrieval and freezing
- hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), also sold as Ovidrel or Novarel, an alternative kind of “trigger” medication
What to do about insurance:
Extend Fertility accepts several leading health insurance companies – click here for a complete list. If your health insurance covers your services, we’ll provide you with the documentation you’ll need to submit a claim to your insurance company.
Your medications are ordered through a pharmacy, which will bill you separately (Click here for a list of pharmacies that carry egg freezing and IVF medications). Follow these steps below to understand if your health insurance plan will cover the medications above.
For everyone:
Contact your insurance company to ask if your specific plan requires prior authorization for certain types of high-cost medications.
If your health plan does require prior authorization, follow the steps outlined in Option A, below. If your plan does not require prior authorization, follow the steps outlined in Option B, below.
Option A: If your plan does require prior authorization
- Ask the health plan representative if your specific plan covers elective egg freezing (alternative names your health plan may use: oocyte preservation or cryopreservation).
- If your health plan does cover elective egg freezing, that’s great! You have what you need from your health plan. Advise your healthcare team at Extend Fertility and we’ll work on your behalf to secure your prior authorization.
- Unfortunately, if your health plan requires prior authorization but does not cover elective egg freezing, your medication costs will not be covered by your insurance.
Option B: If your plan does NOT require prior authorization
- Ask the health plan representative to check if the list of medications above is covered by your plan. If all or some of them are covered, ask your health plan representative if there’s a specific pharmacy you will need to use to order the medications. Then, share that information with us.
Once you have obtained that information, contact our healthcare team at care@extendfertility.com so we may assist you in properly ordering your medication. And if you have any questions, or any difficulty navigating this issue, please let us know. We’ll do everything we can to help.