Surrogacy and Medi-Cal Insurance

This past week I received a telephone call from a surrogate who wanted to know if it was legal for her to use her insurance for her surrogacy. She and the Intended Parent were using a contract that he found on the Internet. The surrogate seemed to think this was okay because he is attending law school so he is an attorney. I explained to her that until he passed the Bar and obtains his license, he is not an attorney. "Oh" and then "well" was her response.

She then told me that her husband is in construction so they are on Medi-Cal (the state of California's low-income insurance plan) so they are going to have two contracts. One that states that the Surrogate is not receiving a fee, which they will send to Medi-Cal as proof that she is doing the surrogacy for no fee and then an amendment that states the fees she will be receiving. She then asked "Is that legal?"

"No. That is insurance fraud and if the insurance company that administers your plan finds out you and your family will lose your insurance, at the very least." I then told her to hire an attorney to protect herself and that if she wants to hire me I would charge more than my going rate because a contract found off the Internet is going to require a lot of work. I also told her to not use her Medi-Cal insurance and that the Intended Parent needs to purchase her insurance to cover the surrogate pregnancy. Frankly, I think she somehow expected me to say something different.

Insurance companies are very, very serious about insurance fraud, especially regarding surrogacy. Medi-Cal insurance does not usually have a surrogacy exclusion so as long as the surrogacy is truly altruistic and there is no compensation paid to the surrogate and the insurance does not exclude a surrogate pregnancy, it is appropriate to use it. But, absolutely not in this surrogate's case. I wish her the best of luck as I'm afraid she's going to need it.

Extraordinary Conceptions extends a helping hand to Surrogenesis, Michael Charles Holding Company Clients

If you are an Intended Parent and you have lost money with the disappearance of the Michael Charles Holding Company and Surrogenesis, Extraordinary Conceptions, LLC would like to offer a helping hand by discounting your Egg Donation and Surrogacy Cycle. We know how hard you have worked and how many years you have suffered and to have a company like Surrogenesis give you false hope that your dreams of having a child will come true, only to steal your life savings blind is appalling.

In case you haven’t heard, escrow company Michael Charles Holding Company has shut its doors, affecting more that 30 Intended Parents and taking off with 1,000,000 in client trust funds. While MCHC stated on their website that they were licensed and bonded, it has now come to light that they might be neither. The FBI is investigating MCHC and if you have any information about MCHC or Surrogenesis, please contact Extraordinary Conceptions and we will get you in touch with Sterling Johnson, who is tirelessly working to see if any money can be recovered for all those affected. However, as Sterling pointed out, even if any money can be recovered, it will be too late to meet your immediate financial needs.

Tonya Collins, President and CEO of Surrogenesis, is also Agent for Service for Michael Charles Holding Company and it is unclear if she had an ownership interest in the company. However, we at Extraordinary Conceptions and others in the industry are extremely doubtful that Tonya will emerge from this heartbreaking mess as an inocent victim.

Please contact Mario Caballero, the Executive Director of Extraordinary Conceptions, at mario@extraconceptions.com, to speak to him about your cycle and the discount program for those affected by the Michael Charles Holding Company and Surrogenesis.

My heart goes out to all those affected. Dreams have been shattered and that is not an understatement. Surrogates are left without insurance while pregnant as bills were not paid. Donors have been left without payment after undergoing weeks of shots and an egg retrieval. And Intended Parents have lost their life savings, and in some cases, money they don’t have as most have to borrow money to afford treatment.

For those looking to work with an agency, please be careful and choose wisely. Speak to therapists in the industry and IVF physicians. Get personal recommendations. Do not rely on information online. You do not know who is posting that information and why. Anyone can say anything about an agency, and you can bet that Tonya Collins and Surrogenesis had a lot of people saying great things about her and her agency.

Economic Turmoil Fuels India's Fertility Business

I recently posted about how patients are canceling their IVF appointments for surrogacy and egg donation in India because of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, but apparently that has not stopped the booming industry in India. In fact, with many women and men getting laid off from their well paying jobs, more educated women than ever before are becoming surrogates and egg donors.

In fact, one woman in the article was at the pharmacy looking to buy poison to kill herself because of her family's desperate financial situation when she saw an advertisement for egg donors. She applied, was accepted and is now receiving income for helping infertile couples who could not have a genetic child without her help. Another woman's husband was laid off and she knew it would be incredibly difficult for her to find employment, so she applied to become a surrogate and is now hoping to become pregnant for an American woman.

I do believe that India is not taking away the surrogacy business from any agency or attorney in this country. Those couples or individuals who are going to India would not have used a surrogate or an egg donor in the United States because they simply cannot afford it. For them, the United States was never an option.