Q: How much does it cost to inseminate at a fertility clinic with a sperm donor?
In general, one unmedicated, unmonitored cycle of IUI will cost about $500, depending on the cost of your doctor and your vial of sperm. One cycle of IVF will cost about $6,000. Insurance tends not to cover the expense unless fertility issues have been identified, and almost never covers the cost of the sperm.
With that in mind, check out insurance coverage options. What are the prerequisites? Do you need to be married in order to be covered? Do you need to have attempted to conceive for six months or a year before coverage can begin? Does your clinic offer special payment options? If you are interested in IVF, does your clinic offer a "shared-risk" program?
If you are planning home insemination, but want to check your own fertility health before you begin to order sperm (because having a regular period, or being under the age of 35, is no guarantee), what might you need to spend for some of the basic fertility tests?
Costs will vary considerably from city to city, clinic to clinic, but here is the start of some rough guides, as supplied from Choice Moms.
Betsy from Washington D.C. reports:
- actual cost of IUI ranges from $200-$350
- each time you get monitored (sonogram), potential $300-400
- each time you get your blood tested, additional $75-100
- if you don't have insurance, my clinic charges $1000 global fee for IUI with clomid (includes monitoring & bloodwork)
- if injectables needed, the global fee increases to $2500
- then of course, there is the cost of the sperm itself, and the shipping
- medicines, such as prometrium, estrace and clomid, could run you about $300 in a cycle, whereas injectables can be $2000+.
Janine reports:
"It is running me about $2,000 a month. I need two vials of IUI premium, which runs about $490 each, so that's $1,000 alone on the sperm, plus it is $200 for shipping from sperm bank to the doctor's office. Then with the blood tests, the sonograms, medications, procedure, and other miscellaneous expenses it is about another $800. I rounded it up to $2,000 per cycle. Perhaps next try (if needed) it won't be as expensive with fewer tests."
Beth from Orlando: My insurance will cover testing and ultrasound every day if I want, but they won't even touch meds or the procedures. Here's how it breaks down for me with BCBS of FL State Employee health plan:
Sperm- $700
Co pays for doc visits- $125 ($25 per visit)
Clomid- $5
Bravelle x 6- $243
Ovidrel- $45
IUI- $385
Progesterone- $90
Total per IUI- $1593
Monica reports:
I'm paying everything out of pocket - here are the prices:
$285 initial RE consult (included lengthy discussion and ultrasound)
$375 psych eval
$1500 - three vials of sperm and shipping
$192 ultrasound on CD14 to check follicle size
$48 trigger shot
$285 actual IUI (includes sperm washing for $100)
$50 beta blood test
So, my initial investment was around $2700, with the next two tries costing $525 each since the sperm is already paid for and here at my clinic.
Choice Mom Marinela did a comparison check of different online pharmacies and found these prices.
