How Much Do Fertility Treatments Cost? From IVF to Donor Eggs
Here are the costs of common ten fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), donor eggs, intrauterine insemination (IUI), and surrogate parenting.
“We compare investing in your fertility with gambling or investing in the stock market,” write Julie Vargo and Maureen Regan in A Few Good Eggs: Two Chicks Dish on Overcoming the Insanity of Infertility. “There are no guarantees. Spending more money on infertility may give you more chances at conception, but there is still no assurance you will have a biological child.”
Another helpful book about infertility is The Infertility Cure: The Ancient Chinese Wellness Program for Getting Pregnant and Having Healthy Babies — it’s a bestseller, and may help you avoid having to lean on infertility treatments to get pregnant.
And make sure you’re sitting down when you read about the cost of these fertility treatments, preferably with a glass of wine – or maybe a stiff Scotch!
The Cost of 10 Fertility Treatments
“All costs are average, of course, and subject to change at the whim of the industry and your doctor,” write Vargo and Regan. “Interestingly, the cost of various procedures can vary greatly depending on where you live. In our limited study, it seems to be the bigger the city, the higher the price.”
Fertility medications
Clomid is one type of fertility medication, and it makes up the major cost of the treatment cycle, say these writers. Clomid or other gonadotropin injections ranges from $50 to $4,000, depending on your treatment plan, the drugs involved, and your cycle. “We suggest checking different pharmacies to get the best prices on drugs,” write Vargo and Regan. We suppose if you live near the border, you could get your drugs in Canada or Mexico – at least until the bureaucrats in Washington shut down the over-the-border prescription pipeline.”
Artificial Insemination (AI)
If the doctor injects sperm into your uterus, it’ll cost $250 to $750.
Sperm wash
This fertility procedure removes weak and unhealthy sperm, and costs an average of $150.
Ovulation induction with artificial insemination (AI)
Ovulation induction costs around $1,600 for “office visits, injection training, baseline FSH test, and estrogen and ultrasound monitoring throughout the cycle.” The $1,600 doesn’t include fertility drugs, making the cost of this infertility procedure fairly high – I think this is the cost per month until you get pregnant.
In vitro fertilization (IVF)
“The average cost of removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries, mixing them with her partner’s sperm, and implanting the resulting embryos into her uterus is about $9,000, although fees for this procedure range from $7,000 to $15,000, depending on the doctor, clinic, and hospital,” write Vargo and Regan in A Few Good Eggs.
The cost of in vitro fertilization – one of the most common fertility treatments – includes office visits, baseline tests, estrogen and ultrasound monitoring, hospital retrieval costs and embryo freezing, in-lab fertilization expenses, hospital transfer costs, and physician services – but not fertility drugs.
Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT)
If the fertility clinic mixes the eggs and sperm in a lab, and the doctor ensures the eggs are fertilized before inserting them in your Fallopian tubes, it’ll cost you about $7,000 to $15,000.
Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT)
The eggs and sperm are mixed in the lab – same as the GIFT – but in this time, the doctor ensures the eggs are fertilized before inserting them into the Fallopian tubes. The cost of this infertility treatment is about $7,000 to $$15,000, depending on the doctor, donor, and clinic.
Donor eggs
“The cost is $10,000 to $50,000 and includes compensation to the egg donor as well as the egg retrieval and subsequent IVF,” write Vargo and Regan. “The donor’s eggs and egg retrieval are never covered by your insurance.”
This fertility procedure revolves around getting donor egg(s) from a fertile woman and mixing them with sperm. Cross your fingers and pray it works – because the cost of this infertility treatment is insanely high!
Surrogate parenting
Never covered by medical insurance, this infertility treatment can cost from $15,000 to $60,000 – and the money goes to lawyers, agencies, and the surrogates’ medical expenses.
To learn more about fertility treatments, read 8 Ways to Treat Infertility and Get Pregnant.
Additional infertility procedures
Plus, there’s the blood work, lab tests, various medical procedures, sonograms, office visits, anesthesia, and surgeries such as hysteroscopies and laparoscopies…all running from $300 to $10,000.
Yikes, I didn’t realize when I started writing this how expensive infertility treatments are! I knew it was expensive – we’ve done one infertility treatment (IVF) and only one cycle of Clomid and that alone blew the budget – but I had no idea how much infertility treatments cost.
If getting pregnant may be a problem because of your age, read Too Old to Have a Baby? Signs It’s a Good Time to Get Pregnant.
If you have any questions or thoughts about the cost of infertility treatments, comment below…and, read 9 Ways to Save Money for Infertility Treatments.
Category: Assisted Conception, Fertility Clinics, In Vitro Fertilization IVF, Infertility Treatment Tips, Types of Fertility Treatments
That’s great that your insurance covers the cost of your fertility treatments, Hayley! Wow – I think that’s rare, and such a blessing. You’re a lucky woman.
I’m lucky. My insurance I’m on right now covers it at 50%.
Thanks for your comment. I WISH our insurance covered the cost of infertility treatments! Boy, that would make life easy. Easier, anyway.
Great information in this post! The big determinant of out of pocket cost is if your insurance covers infertility treatments. If you’ve got that, and can afford the deductible, you’re looking at relatively cheap treatment. But if you don’t…well, then it’s time to make a budget.
Wow, Sarah,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment; you made my week!
Laurie
Laurie I just wanted you to know that I am doing some research for a paper I am writing for school, I have spent countless hours searching the internet for any reasonable explanation on pricing for fertility treatments. I can honestly say I am amazingly impressed by the information, and representation of your article. I am confident to include this information in my paper. Especially considering it covers many areas I am writing about. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this, who knows, maybe one day my writing will have as big of an impact on others, as your writing has.
Continue your en’ devour for excellent literature, I am positive you will always have a following.
Hi Mohamed,
I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s problems with infertility. It’s a difficult issue to deal with, especially as we get older.
I’m afraid I can’t offer any information about hospitals or fertility treatments. I only have this fertility blog; I’m not a fertility clinic or organization.
But, I do encourage you and your wife to consider making peace with the possibility of not having children. My husband and I are slowly coming to accept the idea that we may never have children together. It’s a painful process…but it’s also liberating! Having children is a dream for many people, but it does not have to be the focal point of our lives. That is, we can live wonderful, happy, fulfilling lives even if we never get pregnant.
I wish you all the best in your fertility journey, Mohamed.
Laurie
Hi Dere
am Mohamed al shhwiedy from Libya i have my wife has fertility and her age is 47 years old , i toke her to many hospital to treat her but the the result was not good at all ,so trough the inter net i found your website and i check it very carefully and i want to came over with my wife to get the treatment in this hospital ,
so i need to know the price and supply to us the accommodation about the days thats we suppose to stay to get the treatment
plz send back email including the details about how to get there and i want to know where is the city which this hospital in and i wish to know every thing about this hospital as i told you i just found you in the inter net ,
there and take the treatment.
kind regards
i have a friend who is willing to carry a baby for me and my husband but i dont have the money for all these ways shouldnt it be cheaper if you have someone in your family thats healthy and willing to carry it for you be cheaper,please help me and let me know how i live in louisiana
Thanks for writing, I very much liked your newest post. I think you should post more frequently, you evidently have natural ability for blogging!
Thanks, Zash, for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I hope my other fertility tips help you in your journey…
Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!
Thanks Misha, I’m glad you like my Adventurous Writer website
Infertility treatments are so expensive — I’m not surprised you can’t afford them! We’re considering in vitro fertilization, but definitely don’t want to go into debt to pay for it.
I did write “9 Ways to Save Money for Infertility Treatments”, in case you’re interested! Here’s the link:
http://theadventurouswriter.com/blogbaby/quipstipscouplesinfertility/health/9-ways-to-save-money-for-fertility-treatments/
Good luck, and stay in touch!
Laurie
Laurie, many thanks. I can’t afford fertility treatments yet, but am saving up.
And I love theadventurouswriter.com – cool!!!!