
As you start to explore surrogacy, you might wonder: Does insurance cover surrogacy? This is an important cost consideration for intended parents and gestational carriers.
Medical insurance and surrogacy is a complex topic as it applies differently to different aspects of the process. Here’s what you need to know about surrogacy and medical insurance.
Does Insurance Cover Surrogacy?
Each medical plan sets its own rules and regulations for what to pay for and how much of that service to cover. So there’s no fast answer as to whether insurance covers surrogacy.
Aspects of the process might be covered, such as egg retrieval for the intended parents if your medical plan includes coverage for fertility treatments.
However, the gestational carrier’s medical insurance will likely not cover her prenatal care and delivery in any way.
Most U.S. medical insurance plans explicitly state that they do not cover surrogacy at all.
That’s why working with a surrogacy agency is important. They’ll help intended parents and gestational carriers navigate the complexities of medical coverage.
Several scenarios could apply when evaluating what your medical insurance and that of the gestational carrier might cover.
- The intended parents’ coverage might pay for the maternity portion of the surrogate mother’s care.
- Either party’s medical insurance might cover assisted reproductive technologies. These include artificial insemination. However, most insurance plans only cover this if the surrogate uses her eggs and not those of the intended parents.
- The intended parents’ coverage might pay to retrieve the intended parents’ eggs or store semen to prepare for surrogacy.
- Once the baby is born, their hospital stay will be covered under the intended parents’ medical plan so long as the parents enter into a valid surrogacy contract in a state that is friendly toward surrogacy.
What Is Surrogacy Health Insurance?
While your standard medical insurance might provide minimal or no coverage for surrogacy, you do have insurance options. The insurance industry has plans specific to surrogacy or riders you can add to your existing medical insurance that cover surrogacy for a set number of months. Most insurance plans require that you buy the rider for each surrogacy.
Additionally, some employers provide surrogacy benefits or coverage for fertility treatments. Review your benefit plans to see what might be available to you to help offset the costs of surrogacy.
Can You Serve as a Gestational Surrogate without Health Insurance?
Yes, you can still serve as a gestational surrogate even without health insurance coverage. That’s because the surrogacy agency can handle getting you and the intended parents the medical coverage you need to ensure a smooth process and proper prenatal care.
At times, surrogates change jobs during the surrogacy process or lose their job, which results in changes to their medical insurance. Should those events happen, the best surrogacy agency can help the surrogate carrier and intended parents in creating an insurance solution.
Ultimately, you should still apply to be a surrogate regardless of your health insurance status as long as you meet the other qualification criteria.
And under no circumstances will the gestational surrogate receive a medical bill related to their prenatal care or birth when working with Accel Conceptions. However, medical bills unrelated to the pregnancy and birth will not be covered under your contract.
How Intended Parents Can Afford Surrogacy
Surrogacy is not an inexpensive journey. If you’re concerned about the cost, here are some tips for managing the expense while growing your family.
- Ask your employer about their fertility treatment and surrogacy benefits. Some do provide lump sum benefits to employees going through fertility treatments or start their surrogacy journey.
- Crowdfund some of the expense. Using a platform like GoFundMe you can share your journey to growing your family and ask friends, family and acquaintances to contribute.
- Find a volunteer surrogate carrier. You’ll save a great deal if your gestational carrier agrees to carry your baby for no compensation outside of covering their bills.
- Save money through strict budgeting and investments. See where you can cut expenses to begin growing your savings and place them in a high-yield savings account or other secure investment where you’re unlikely to lose your principal.
- Look into financing. You might be able to borrow funds from your 401(k), take out a second mortgage or consider a personal loan. Just be sure that your monthly payments on a loan are realistic for you as you don’t want to be in an uncomfortable situation with making payments once you welcome your new baby.
- Use an HSA or FSA to pay for qualifying medical expenses. While this isn’t free money, it does help you lower your tax burden, which helps your money go further. More than likely, you’ll only be able to use your FSA and HAS for the IVF expenses involved in the process and not compensate your surrogate.
Understanding Cost Factors in Surrogacy
Each surrogacy journey is unique. If you want a full assessment of your surrogacy expenses as an intended parent or want to better understand potential compensation as a gestational surrogate, contact Accel Conceptions. We’ll help you evaluate whether surrogacy is right for you and what the financials for surrogacy will look like in your situation.