PFC Physicians Interviewed by the Media about New Fertility Benefits Offered by Facebook and Apple

Childbearing and career may be mutually exclusive for some women. But two tech giants are now addressing that conundrum by offering unprecedented egg-freezing fertility benefits. Covering this news, local and national media sought the expertise of Pacific Fertility Center (PFC) physicians on the technical aspects of this development.

Facebook began offering egg freezing and storage as part of its benefits package earlier this year; Apple will begin in January of 2015. Each egg-freezing procedure usually costs about $10,000, and annual storage costs are around $500. Although each company offers slightly different policies, both cover up to $20,000 for egg freezing, a procedure not typically covered by insurance for non-medical reasons.

No longer considered experimental by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), fertility preservation allows women to capture and store a number of good quality eggs, preventing the otherwise inevitable deterioration, and allowing them to be thawed and fertilized when it’s more convenient to create a family.

PFC President Carl M. Herbert, MD, told ABC7 and CBS-SF Bay Area he’s seen an increase in requests for the technology in recent years, which may benefit those who need years to develop a top-level career. He explained that the best time to freeze eggs is in a woman’s early 30s when the numbers of eggs are more plentiful and quality higher. The viability and quality of unfrozen eggs residual in the ovaries will reduce over time.

Philip E. Chenette, MD, called the benefit “payback” for women’s commitment to the workplace and told NBC News that egg freezing has empowered women to pursue both career and childrearing in a timeframe that works better for them.

Although this new benefit may help attract and keep women in high-tech, both Facebook and Apple will also cover up to $20,000 in benefits to cover sperm donation and infertility benefits to men as well.

About Pacific Fertility Center

Pacific Fertility Center is an international destination for male and female fertility treatment and care. It provides an extensive array of fertility treatment options ranging from intrauterine insemination (IUI), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) to cutting-edge technology such as vitrification and genetic testing of embryos. For more information: www.pacificfertilitycenter.com.

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Media Contact
Renee H. Scudder, MS
415-249-3662
scudder@pacificfertility.com

Pacific Fertility Center
55 Francisco Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94133

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