Surrogacy costs can be sky high, but when it comes to building a family, most Intended Parents would agree that putting in the time and money is well worth the end result. Not only is it a tremendous emotional commitment, financially, it can seem almost impossible to come up with the money you need for surrogacy financing.

Fortunately, there are many options out there that can help ease the financial impact on Intended Parents. From grants to budgeting to insurance, you can educate yourself in all the ways you can fund your surrogacy journey. In this post, we’ll chat about surrogacy costs and the many options available to Intended Parents to cover them.

Surrogacy Costs

To understand how much you’ll need to save, you’ll first need to be aware of the costs of surrogacy. For each unique case, surrogacy costs will vary widely depending on if you are working with an agency (or independent), if you have to go through the process multiple times, etc.

Here are some of the most common costs you’ll encounter during your surrogacy process:

- Creation of Embryos - $0-$30,000+ (some health insurance may cover)

- Surrogacy Consultant - $10,000-$15,000 or Agency - $25,000-$50,000+

- Psychologist - $1,500-$3,000 (both GC and IPs)

- Fertility Clinic’s Medical Screening of Surrogate - $3,000-$10,000

- Legal Fees - $8,000-$16,000

- Escrow - $1,000-$2,500

- Surrogate’s Fertility Medications - $2,000-$5,000

- Fertility Clinic Embryo Transfer - $7,000-$20,000 (some clinics offer a “shared risk” where you pay more, but it is for unlimited transfers)

- Health Insurance for Surrogate $0-$30,000 (sometimes surrogate has surrogate-friendly insurance)

- Surrogate Compensation - $40,000-$60,000+ (In the case of an altruistic surrogacy, this expense would not be something you need to pay)

As you can see, depending on the needs of your surrogate and the terms of your surrogate agreement, the average cost of surrogacy for couples can vary drastically. As a guideline, surrogacy cost in the USA is easily well over $100k.

Surrogacy Insurance

Whether or not any of the required medical expenses will be covered under insurance essentially comes down to the specific insurance plan that is held by both the Intended Parents, as well as the gestational carrier.

While most insurance carriers don’t ordinarily cover the cost of surrogacy and only cover typical pregnancies, the insurance chosen by your surrogate can really help to keep costs down for you as an Intended Parent if you take the time to find a more surrogacy-friendly provider.

Ideally your surrogate will be using a provider that offers a plan that covers additional fees for surrogacy specifically, although these types of plans are harder to come by. You’ll find that many insurance providers have specific language that explicitly excludes surrogacy from their coverage. Make sure to read the fine print and do your homework here instead of assuming that your surrogate is automatically covered.

Some Intended Parents have employer benefits that are favorable towards surrogacy. Most commonly, they will have a benefit that will provide some reimbursement towards surrogacy expenses.

Budgeting For Surrogacy

Once you understand the costs associated with surrogacy, you can start getting more detailed information and know exactly what you’ll need to save up.

You can start by reaching out to agencies and clinics for costs of the services and procedures you’ll need. Pay extra attention to costs that may fluctuate so you can calculate a range of costs. This will help you stay realistic and not surprise you later down the road.

Build in a buffer for unexpected costs like travel expenses or legal changes that may pop up so you are covered no matter what. You can also meet with financial experts to review insurance, tax credits, or any other benefits you may be eligible for.

Surrogacy Grants

As mentioned earlier, there is financial assistance and grants for surrogacy available from many different sources. These grants often come from foundations and will require you to go through an application process.

Jewish Federation Foundation

JFF Fertility Grants are open to individuals that live in a JFF Community that are receiving treatment at one of the JFF clinic partners. There are various other requirements that you can learn more about here.

Stardust Fertility

These grants are available to residents in the tri-state area of CT, NJ, and NY. One parent must be Jewish and Judaism must also be the sole religion practiced in the home and the only religion your child will be raised with. You can find out more details here.

BabyQuest

Grant eligibility for BabyQuest depends on your current circumstances, for example, the underlying cause of infertility, financial situation and other life factors, plus you’ll also have to meet an additional set of requirements to receive financial assistance for surrogacy.

Cade Foundation

The Tinina Q. Cade Foundation’s Family Building Grant is an annual award that provides up to $10,000 to needy, infertile families. These grants assist with the costs associated with infertility treatment or domestic (does NOT cover international) adoption.

The Surrogacy Foundation

The Surrogacy Foundation is a non-profit that helps parents grow their family. They’ve raised over $500k to help Intended Parents like you secure surrogacy financing.

Saving For Surrogacy

If you find that you’re not eligible for infertility or surrogacy grants, you don’t need to give up hope yet. With some time, patience, and persistence, you can begin saving your way to grow your family. Here are a few methods to get you started:

Cut non-essential expenses

It’s not the most fun thing to do, but every little bit counts! Time to flip through those monthly statements and review where you’re spending unnecessary money that could be put towards surrogacy savings.

Open a dedicated savings account

Being able to deposit your money into the same savings account every month and watch it grow is a good way to stay motivated when you’re trying to save such a large amount of money. Find one with a good monthly interest rate and no fees to really optimize it.

Set a monthly savings goal

Having a monthly goal can help keep you visually on track towards your larger goal. This can also make a large overwhelming goal (like saving $150k!) more manageable.

Pursue a side gig or part time work

Picking up some part time work on the side will help you hit your savings goal much faster than if you were to only cut expenses. Ask family or friends if they could use paid help with something, offer a simple service, or pick up a part time job to speed up your savings process.

Affording Surrogacy

While the surrogacy financing process is certainly not cheap, there are plenty of ways to make it a reality, and there are surrogacy grants and resources out there that can help. If you’re just getting started with the surrogacy process, schedule a complimentary discovery call with our expert team to find out more about how we can support bringing your dream to life, regardless of your budget.