Beginning your journey with surrogacy can feel both exciting and overwhelming. There are a lot of expenses associated with surrogacy, and an intended parent may find themselves asking, “Is there any way my insurance covers surrogacy?”

Before surrogacy was a possibility for intended parents, insurance laws covered all pregnancies. Since it’s become possible to have biological children in several different ways, those laws have changed rapidly.

Whether you’re an intended parent or a surrogate, it’s important that you understand what’s covered in your policy before continuing with the surrogacy process.

Insurance policies that do cover parts of the surrogacy process tend to focus on three aspects: infertility treatments, the surrogate’s pregnancy, and maternity/newborn care.

One of the benefits of working with a surrogacy agency is that they’ll help you review any insurance policies and legal contracts to find out what your policy supports and determine how much intended parents will pay out-of-pocket for medical costs associated with the surrogacy journey.

Speaking with an attorney or an insurance representative alongside your surrogacy specialist can help you best understand the intricacies of your insurance plan.

The Surrogate’s Pregnancy

Before surrogacy became a popular option for intended parents, insurance companies used blanket policies to cover all pregnancies – however, now that it’s become a more popular trend, some of those policies have been amended to exclude surrogacy altogether, covering only “pregnancies within the family.” If the surrogate’s policy doesn’t cover surrogacy, the intended parents  may have to purchase supplemental coverage, or cover surrogate pregnancy costs without using the surrogate’s insurance policy.

Supplemental insurance policies can get expensive: some premiums can be upwards of $10,000, and deductibles can start at $15,000 per single pregnancy. Talk to your surrogacy specialist, alongside an attorney, to find out what’s covered in your specific policy and what options you may have available financially.  

Infertility Treatments

Many insurance companies will cover infertility treatments to a certain cost. It won’t cover all medical expenses incurred by a surrogate during the surrogacy process, but typically it will cover any in vitro fertilization (IVF) fees. As of the writing of this post, sixteen states in the US have specific laws requiring insurance companies

But you should still make sure that it’s covered under your specific plan, especially if you receive your insurance from an employer. In states that don’t explicitly mandate that insurance cover infertility treatments, it’s left up to the insurance carriers’ discretion.

Surrogacy insurance coverage for IVF will vary by policy, and due to the expense of the process, it’s sometimes excluded from policies. However, because infertility testing is fairly inexpensive, it’s often covered.  

Maternity and Newborn Care

Maternity and newborn care are considered essential in most health plans. Coverage, however, varies wildly between carrier and even between specific policy.

If you’re intended parents, make sure that your policy doesn’t contain exclusive language regarding surrogacy, and check in with both your surrogacy specialist and an attorney to see what options may be available to you.