Infertility Treatment Cost Planner

Plan the full cost of a fertility treatment journey

Fertility treatment costs are often discussed “per cycle,” but real-life planning usually spans multiple cycles and includes non-obvious expenses such as medications, supplements, time away from work, and emotional-support services. This IVF cost planner helps you estimate an all-in out-of-pocket budget based on your expected number of cycles, your clinic’s pricing, and a simplified insurance offset.

Important: This calculator provides an educational estimate only. It is not medical advice and not financial/insurance advice. Costs, coverage, and success rates vary widely by clinic, location, diagnosis, age, protocol, and insurer. Confirm details with your fertility clinic and your insurance plan administrator.

What the calculator includes (mapped to the inputs)

• Base cycle cost: the core procedure cost you enter (e.g., IUI or IVF cycle fee).
• Expected number of cycles: how many cycles you anticipate paying for. Fractional values can represent an “average expected” plan (e.g., 2.5).
• Medication cost per cycle: stimulation meds, trigger, luteal support, etc., as you estimate.
• Supplements & acupuncture: optional supportive-care spending you want to budget.
• Days off work per cycle and daily income loss: an estimate of lost wages or PTO value.
• Therapy/counseling support: a user-entered budget for mental-health support during treatment.
• Insurance coverage: a simplified model that applies an offset to either medications only or to both treatment and medications (depending on the option selected).
• Expected success rate per cycle: used for planning context (e.g., setting expectations). It should not be interpreted as a guarantee.

Formulas and methodology

The calculator builds up your estimated total cost from per-cycle components and then applies a simplified insurance offset. In plain language:

1. Compute the per-cycle subtotal (treatment + meds + supplements + time-off loss).
2. Multiply by the expected number of cycles.
3. Add any one-time counseling/therapy budget.
4. Subtract an estimated insurance contribution based on your selection.

Core cost equation (MathML)

The following expresses the structure of the estimate:

Insurance offset (simplified)

Because real insurance benefits can be complex (deductibles, copays, lifetime maximums, in-network rules, prior authorization, separate pharmacy benefits), this tool uses a simplified approach:

• No coverage: InsuranceOffset = 0
• Partial (50% meds only): InsuranceOffset = 50% of total medication costs across cycles
• Moderate (50% treatment, meds covered): InsuranceOffset = 50% of total base cycle costs + 100% of total medication costs
• Comprehensive (75%+ coverage): InsuranceOffset = 75% of (base cycle costs + medication costs)

If your plan has a dollar cap (for example, “$15,000 lifetime fertility benefit”), you can approximate it by reducing the coverage selection and/or manually adjusting your input costs to reflect expected out-of-pocket spending.

Interpreting your results

Your estimate is most useful when viewed as a planning range rather than a single guaranteed number. Consider these interpretations:

• Per-cycle economics: The per-cycle subtotal shows how much each additional attempt costs you (before insurance), which helps with “what if we do one more cycle?” decisions.
• Cash-flow timing: Even if your total is manageable over time, clinics may require payment upfront per cycle. Compare your estimate with how bills will arrive (procedure vs. pharmacy vs. lab).
• Work impact: Time-off costs can materially change the budget, especially for hourly workers or those without paid leave.
• Emotional support budget: Counseling costs are included because many people find it helpful to plan for them rather than treat them as an afterthought.

Success rate input: Use this field to reflect the best estimate available to you (clinic SART/CDC stats, age bracket, diagnosis, whether using donor eggs, etc.). It should guide expectations and scenario planning, not predict individual outcomes.

Worked example (illustrative only)

Suppose you are planning for IVF with the following inputs:

• Base cycle cost: $12,000
• Expected number of cycles: 2.5 (an “average expected” plan)
• Medication cost per cycle: $3,000
• Supplements/acupuncture per cycle: $500
• Days off work per cycle: 5
• Daily income loss: $250
• Therapy/counseling support: $1,200
• Insurance: Partial (50% meds only)

Step-by-step:

1. Time-off cost per cycle = 5 × $250 = $1,250
2. Per-cycle subtotal = $12,000 + $3,000 + $500 + $1,250 = $16,750
3. Multi-cycle subtotal = 2.5 × $16,750 = $41,875
4. Add counseling = $41,875 + $1,200 = $43,075
5. Insurance offset (50% meds only) = 50% × (2.5 × $3,000) = 0.5 × $7,500 = $3,750
6. Estimated total = $43,075 − $3,750 = $39,325

In practice, you may want to run multiple scenarios (e.g., 2 cycles vs. 3 cycles, higher medication pricing, more/less time off) to see how sensitive your budget is to each factor.

Typical cost drivers (comparison table)

This table summarizes how common treatment paths can differ in what drives cost. Real pricing varies by clinic and geography.

Assumptions and limitations (read before relying on the estimate)

• Not a clinic quote: Clinics define “cycle cost” differently (retrieval vs. transfer, anesthesia, lab, embryology, freezing, storage). Confirm inclusions.
• Testing/monitoring may be separate: Ultrasounds, bloodwork, semen analysis, infectious-disease screening, and pre-treatment labs may be billed separately and are not explicitly modeled unless you add them into your base cycle cost.
• Frozen embryo transfer (FET) costs vary: If your plan involves multiple FETs, you may need to incorporate those fees into the expected cycles and/or the base cycle cost.
• Medication pricing is highly variable: Dose, protocol, pharmacy, coupons, and insurance pharmacy benefits can change costs substantially.
• Insurance modeling is simplified: Deductibles, copays, coinsurance, out-of-pocket maximums, lifetime maximums, and network rules are not represented.
• Fractional cycles are an average: Entering 2.5 cycles is a budgeting technique (expected value), not a real-world guarantee.
• Success rates are not predictions: The success-rate input is for context only and can’t account for individual medical factors.
• Non-medical costs are incomplete: Travel, childcare, fertility-friendly nutrition programs, legal costs (especially for donor arrangements/surrogacy), and financing interest are not included unless you add them to your inputs.

Sources and credibility notes

For reliable background information on success rates and reporting, consult sources such as national clinic-outcome reporting programs and professional societies (for example, CDC/SART in the U.S. or HFEA in the U.K.), and ask your clinic for an itemized estimate. If you would like, you can treat this calculator as a worksheet: enter your clinic’s line-item quotes directly into the relevant fields.