Women shifting careers for IVF coverage amid employer support

CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Thousands of women across the United States are making the choice to shift, oftentimes diverging from their career aspirations, in order to pursue their dream of starting a family. This trend is emerging as an increasing number of companies step forward to provide assistance for treatments such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

According to FertilityIQ, more than 400 U.S. companies offer benefits for fertility treatments.

A single round of in-vitro fertilization can cost upward of $20,000 and often requires more than one try. In the U.S., More than seven million women have used infertility services, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chelsey Mendes and her husband have been trying to conceive for the past seven years without any success.

“You don’t fit in with the mom group but you don’t fit in with the wives — you’re kind of stuck because you want to be a mom but you can’t get there. You feel alone, you feel worthless, you build like a hatred for your body because it doesn’t do what other women’s bodies do,” she said.

The 27-year-old faces challenges having polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition commonly known as PCOS. It’s a hormonal disorder that makes it difficult to conceive.

Interestingly, Mendes works as a delivery room nurse, witnessing mothers giving birth to their tiny miracles while she herself prays and hopes that one day she, too, will be blessed with her own.

“I decided what am I going to do — am I going to spend the rest of the year moping around and not doing anything or am I going to do IVF, and if I do IVF, how am I going to afford it,” Mendes said.

Aware of the need for creative solutions, she embarked on a quest to find employment that provided IVF benefits. She found a part-time position with Tractor Supply Company, despite having no prior experience or expertise in the field.

“I would say I give myself a lot of grace, I use my employee and coworkers for help,” Mendes said. “It’s a learning curve for sure, I don’t anything about tractors, or farming, or baby chicks.”

It has enabled her to accumulate savings in the thousands, putting her family in a better financial position to support a family in the future.

“It can cost 30 to 40 thousand depending on how many rounds of IVF you have to do,” Mendes said.

However, it doesn’t stop at IVF, there’s also genetic testing, embryo transfers and freezing costs.

Mendes’ journey is just one among thousands of women in a Facebook group who have opted to work at places like Target, Starbucks, Amazon, and Tractor Supply in order to access infertility assistance.

“Premium health care shouldn’t cost a premium price tag,” said Gina Bartasi, founder of Kindbody – Fertility Clinic. “You have to have like-minded employers who are innovative and constantly thinking about how to reinvent health care to make it more affordable.”

“The only way infertility and IVF become normalized and more insurance pick it up and more companies offer it to women is by talking about it, so why are we not talking about it more?” Mendes said.

Chelsey recently completed her first found of IVF and successfully retrieved an impressive 40 eggs.

Her biggest regret is not embarking on the IVF journey sooner, and she hopes to alleviate the sense of isolation for other women by sharing her story.