Tonight, I went to an egg freezing party that EggBanxx put on at the Nomad in NYC. It was a proper cocktail party with hors d’oeuvres and plenty of wine. I didn’t learn anything new because I’ve personally been obsessed with this topic for so long that I could have been their expert speaker. But it if you’re just getting started, it’s not a bad way to get a live 101.
Dr. Fahimeh Sasan, Chief Medical Officer of EggBanxx, OB/GYN at Mount Sinai Hospital, is approachable and talks about it in simple terms. I love that she’s paving the way to having open dialogue about this, and that she’s driving the conversation into the mainstream.
That said, as with everything, I went to the event with a healthy dose of skepticism and here’s what rubbed me the wrong way:
- EggBanxx is basically a broker: they negotiate ‘discounted’ prices with clinics (of the procedure only – the drugs still cost what they cost) in return for volume of patients. If you still can’t afford the cost, they provide (high interest rate) financing options.
- Therefore, the doctors at these events are basically there to sell you on their practice – in fact, during Q&A, there was an uncomfortable moment where one of the clinics basically quoted a SIGNIFICANTLY lower cost than the other two. It was a little used car salesman-like.
- Thus, rather than encouraging the conversation about having health insurance cover this more systematically, practices are trying to figure out how to make a business out of it. By the way, the two things aren’t mutually exclusive, except that doctors are all still referring to this as ‘elective,’ like a boob job, and therefore, simply accepting that insurance doesn’t cover it.
- Some of the most credible fertility practices from NYC were notably missing from the ‘panel.’ In fact, one of the practices was a small start-up that was clearly there to drum-up business (they all were, but this one was particularly obvious).
- It was clearly a marketing event, with a very captive, very valuable audience all sitting in one place. I got the sense that every picture being taken and all of the information they were collecting from us was going straight into a ‘media kit’ which they will later use to discuss conversion rates with other clinics.
All that said, I do encourage people to check out their events. If you need a break from trolling the internet for information, it’s a great way to get a 101 from live people.
Image Sourced From: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/a-century-of-dazzling-party-dresses/
