How Much Does It Cost to Get Pregnant? How to Budget for IVF
For some people, the cost of getting pregnant has an easy-to-calculate dollar figure: $0.
For couples struggling with infertility, however, the act of becoming pregnant is often much more costly. In vitro fertilization, or IVF, is one of the more popular methods of assisted conception, but it comes with a significant price tag.
How much does IVF cost, and how can you budget for IVF? Financial Samurai has some numbers:
One Round of IVF = $15,000
In her post for Financial Samurai, guest writer Melissa describes the cost of a potential IVF procedure: “It can vary a lot between clinics and the specific medications and procedures you require, but the general range at my clinic is $13,000-16,000 for one attempt. It’s absolutely ridiculous!”
Not everybody becomes pregnant after the first round of IVF, which means that would-be parents need to be prepared to pay for multiple rounds. If there are potential embryos after the first round, it might cost around $5,000 to attempt to transfer them into a viable pregnancy.
Melissa adds that many insurance plans “don’t cover IVF at all, which means we’ve got to fund everything ourselves.”
Save Money With Mini IVF
Mini IVF is similar to standard IVF, except it uses a lower dose of hormones to produce fewer eggs.
Melissa explains that the costs of Mini IVF are about half of the costs of a standard IVF procedure, but notes that there are some drawbacks: “Mini IVF is appealing because it’s much less invasive, less complicated, less shots, and less expensive. But the downsides are the success rates are lower that conventional IVF and there’s also very limited chance to have enough extra embryos to freeze for a second cycle.”
Budgeting for IVF
Not everybody has enough money to pay $15,000 or more for IVF procedures, or even the roughly $7,000 that Mini IVF can cost. If you are thinking about paying for IVF, here are some factors to consider:
- How much money can you set aside every month for an IVF procedure?
- With that goal in mind, how soon will you be able to schedule your IVF procedure?
- If you put all of your money into IVF, will you still have enough set aside for an emergency fund?
- How many rounds of IVF can you afford before deciding to quit the process?
Don’t forget about the time costs involved in IVF; you are probably going to need to take some time off work for the appointments and the procedure, and in some cases that can lead to lost income. Look carefully at your finances before planning an IVF procedure, and make sure you talk to your doctor about whether IVF is a smart choice for you.
Want to know more? Read the full story at Financial Samurai.
Your Turn: Have you had to budget for IVF? How did you make room for these costs in your budget?
Nicole Dieker is a freelance copywriter and essayist. She writes regularly for The Billfold on the intersection of freelance writing and personal finance, and her work has also appeared in The Toast, Yearbook Office, and Boing Boing.
