NYSHIP and Dr. Braverman

Hi,
I am currently scheduled to start my first cycle of IVF with Dr. Braverman. I have Empire NYSHIP and wanted to know if there is anyone else with this insurance that is a patient of Dr. B? I was just reading about the benefits and Empire says that a "paid-in-full benefit" is available when you choose a Center of Excellece for Infertility treatment and receive prior authorization. I have not gotten prior authorization yet, but wanted to know if Dr. B is a center of excellence? If not, did you have to pay a lot of out of pocket expenses with Dr.B?

Re: NYSHIP and Dr. Braverman

I have the Empire NYSHIP insurance and I am a patient of Dr. Braverman. I have to pay a copay everytime I go and it is $40. The copay is for the blood drawn and the sonogram. On top of the $40 copay, you will be billed at home another $20 lab fee from Enzo Labs so basically each visit will cost you $60.

Dr. Braverman is not considered a Center of Excellence so that is why you pay those copays.

Hope that helps.

Good Luck

Re: NYSHIP and Dr. Braverman

This is why I purposely picked a center of excellence. I have never had to pay a copay (except for certain bloodwork). I cannot imagine how much money I have saved. They also negotiate reduced rates so that preserves my lifetime max. If I had gonen somewhere else, I would long ago maxed out my insurance. As it stands now I still have a little less than half (after at least 6 IVFs).

Re: NYSHIP and Dr. Braverman

In addition to the $40 office and $20 lab copays, if you are doing IVF you will also have some oop expenses that are not covered by AFS. All billing goes through AFS but one of the ladies at Dr. Braverman's can tell you what to expect. I did receive two checks from NYSHIP that I simply signed over to AFS and have not had to owe them anything additional. I know one of them was to cover the anesthesiologist at retrieval.

I did use a Center of Excellence last year, one of the top clinics in NYC, and it was so nice not to have to pay one penny for a visit or lab work, but I didn't have any success with that RE.

Good luck

Re: NYSHIP and Dr. Braverman

Posted by PeTeacher

I have the Empire NYSHIP insurance and I am a patient of Dr. Braverman. I have to pay a copay everytime I go and it is $40. The copay is for the blood drawn and the sonogram. On top of the $40 copay, you will be billed at home another $20 lab fee from Enzo Labs so basically each visit will cost you $60.

Dr. Braverman is not considered a Center of Excellence so that is why you pay those copays.

Hope that helps.

Good Luck

Re: NYSHIP and Dr. Braverman

I have NYSHIP and the copay was $20. He is well worth the copays. He got me pregnant where my previous IF clinic who was a center of excellence with no copays did not.

Re: NYSHIP and Dr. Braverman

Thanks everyone for you informative replies! I also spoke with Empire today and they explained alot. From what they say, a center of excellence is 100% and no co-pays. Dr. B is in network so he will also be covered 100%, but I will have to pay co-pays. I chose to stick with Dr. B. because I have heard wonderful things about him and I really like him. I'd be interested in hearing your experiences with Dr. B if you'd like to share. Also, does anyone know approximately how many tries I will get with this $50,000. I understand that it's different with everyone and FETs are much lower if an option, but just want to get an idea. I am soooooo nervous that I am going to exhaust my benefits before being successful. A little background......I am "perfect", but DH has low everything. Dr. B. seems very positive and speaks like it's going to happen first time. We are scheduled for ER and ET the week of 2/20. I am really trying not to get my hopes up too much, but really wan to be positive. Thanks so much! Sorry this is soooo long :)