Understanding Fertility Treatment Costs

Yes! At Illume, our goal is ensuring that everyone can get the high-quality care they need at the most affordable prices possible. By offering special packages and bundled services, we aim to make fertility treatment more accessible to all hopeful parents seeking assistance. 

Our customized financial plans for fertility testing and treatment include:

• Fertility testing
• Egg freezing
• Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
• In vitro fertilization (IVF)
• Donor egg
• Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT)
• Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
• Surrogacy

These self-pay plans include discounts and bundled services to help those paying for treatment out-of-pocket achieve their goals sooner.

If you're new to Illume, please ask your New Patient Liaison (or your Financial Counselor, for existing patients) for more information.

While assisted reproductive technology is remarkable in that it allows many people to have the family they’ve always dreamed of, it’s no secret that it is expensive. The costs of procedures, testing, and medication can quickly add up and make your goals feel out of reach.

If your insurance plan doesn’t cover fertility treatment, know that there are grants, loans, payment plans and other financial assistance programs to help you afford in vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination (IUI), or other fertility treatments out-of-pocket. 

Learn more about paying for IVF without insurance here.

When you become an Illume Fertility patient, you will be assigned a Financial Counselor, who can provide expert answers to your insurance and pricing-related questions. They will review all of your options with you, including in-house payment plans, loans, and where to turn for financial assistance. 

Here's a quick breakdown:

Illume Fertility Plans: We offer a range of in-house plans that can help make treatment more affordable for those paying out-of-pocket.

Loans: Illume is proud to partner with companies like Sunfish who enable individuals to gain access to care, offering all-inclusive IVF treatment packages for a fixed price, combined with refunds for eligible patients, unlimited transfers, guidance and discounts on medication. Learn more here.

Grants & Scholarships: There are many wonderful organizations that offer grants, scholarships, and discounted services to individuals or couples who cannot afford fertility treatment on their own, such as The Nest Egg Foundation. Learn more here.

The short answer is that fertility treatment costs vary due to a wide range of factors, including:

• State mandates for fertility coverage (which only exist in certain states)
• Whether your personal insurance plan offers fertility coverage
• Your chosen treatment path
• Your location (in places like New York City, where there is a higher cost of living, fertility clinic charges are usually higher as a result)

While this can be frustrating to learn, know that advocates (including our team here at Illume) are constantly working to increase access to fertility care for anyone who wishes to build a family.

The lure of less expensive fertility treatment is inescapable. The medicine and support involved in making fertility treatment a success, however, is costly. Beware of clinics that cut corners to reduce costs, as they may not offer the level of treatment and results you may be expecting. 

If you choose to consider a "low-cost IVF" clinic, ask detailed questions about which services are included in their final pricing, and what they typically charge for them.

Also make sure to ask whether their quoted rates include necessary procedures, such as:

• Initial baseline blood work and ultrasounds to start your cycle
• As many in-cycle monitoring appointments as your cycle requires (blood work and ultrasounds during morning monitoring hours)
• All laboratory procedures - some clinics send their work out to nearby labs, while more comprehensive clinics have labs on-site

The bottom line: When considering a fertility clinic that advertises lower cost treatments, it's important to understand what is (and isn't) included in their plan.

Open enrollment refers to the time period each year where you can enroll, change, or drop your health insurance plan for the upcoming year (whether it’s Medicare, employer-based, or the health marketplace).

This open enrollment period typically lasts from November 1 to December 15 in most states. 

Learn more about open enrollment and what you can do to maximize or change your insurance plan here.