Infertility Costs — How Much for IVF?
If you’re considering in-vitro fertilization (IVF) as a treatment option, it’s important to have a good understanding of the costs involved before you proceed. In the US, the cost of one typical IVF cycle ranges from $10,000 to $15,000 and averages around $12,000. If you have frozen embryos from a previous cycle and want to use them, doing so is significantly cheaper than doing a complete IVF cycle with fresh embryos, because the surgical step of egg retrieval from the woman’s ovaries can be skipped. It’s not uncommon for a woman to produce 8 to 10 viable embryos in an IVF cycle, but only 2 or 3 will be implanted so as to avoid the risk of carrying multiples. Many couples choose to freeze any embryos that are not implanted during the initial IVF cycle. Those embryos can be used if the first cycle did not result in a pregnancy, or if the first cycle was a success, frozen embryos can be used if the couple wants to try for another child. The average cost for a frozen embryo transfer (FET), is only about $3,000.
If you plan on using an egg donor, the cost will be significantly higher, and may be up to $30,000 for a single cycle. Using a sperm donor is not as expensive as using an egg donor, but will nonetheless increase the cost anywhere from $200 to $3,000 extra for a single cycle, or between $13,000 and $17,000 per IVF cycle. Another option to investigate if you plan to use donor material is embryo donation. This is by far the least expensive of the donor options, and it’s often cheaper than a regular IVF cycle, for the same reason that frozen embryo transfers of one’s own embryo is less expensive. Overall an embryo donor cycle costs anywhere between $5,000 and $7,000.
Keep in mind that you may need additional assisted reproductive technologies along with your IVF cycle, which will add to the cost. For example, ICSI treatment (where a single sperm is injected directly into an egg) may be an additional $1,000 to $1,500, and genetic testing of embryos may be around $3,000 or more. Embryo freezing, including the initial freezing and later storage, may cost an additional few to several hundred dollars.
As you research costs further and “comparison shop” with different clinics, be cautious of any fertility clinic that tells you that an IVF cycle at their facility less than $10,000. Chances are, they are leaving something out from their price quote. For any clinic you call regarding costs, be sure to ask if their price quote includes everything, including fertility drug purchases, ultrasound and monitoring costs, blood work, and any options they might consider “extra”. That way, when you compare clinic price quotes you can be sure you are comparing apples to apples.
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