What Factors Affect the Cost of IVF?
In vitro fertilization, or IVF, has helped many people realize their dreams of having children. However, IVF is a more costly treatment, which can lead some people to fear it’s out of their budget.
IVF cost actually varies depending on many factors. At the Center for Fertility and Gynecology, we believe IVF should be accessible to those who want to undergo this treatment. One way Dr. Michael Vermesh and Dr. Tannaz Toloubeydokhti help make IVF work within many budgets by being transparent about factors that affect IVF cost for their patients in Los Angeles, CA, Tarzana, CA, Bakersfield, CA, Thousand Oaks, CA, Torrance, CA, and surrounding areas.
Understanding what factors affect cost can help patients in choosing what options they need for their treatment and budget. With that said, we would like to take a moment to consider some of these factors and how they affect the cost of IVF.
Type of IVF Service
There are several different types of IVF services that require more or less intervention. The type of service used will affect the price of IVF, for example:
- Natural IVF cycle: Natural IVF cycle doesn’t use medication to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. This can help keep costs lower.
- Mini IVF cycle: Mini IVF cycle, also called minimal stimulation IVF, uses some medication to stimulate ovulation but less than traditional IVF. Costs for mini IVF generally fall somewhere between the costs of natural IVF and traditional IVF.
- Single traditional cycle: Traditional IVF uses more medications than mini IVF to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. Accordingly, the costs are higher.
- Traditional cycle with egg donation: Traditional IVF with egg donation includes the costs of traditional IVF with the addition of costs for egg donation, making it more expensive than other IVF treatments.
Medications
IVF medications affect the cost of final treatment and vary depending on each patient’s needs. Medications are usually given to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs and to trigger ovulation. While natural cycle IVF doesn’t use these medications, the other types of IVF do and the amount that’s needed to elicit the desired response may be more or less depending on how the patient’s body responds to IVF medications.
Medication to support the lining of the uterus is also used for IVF. Like the other IVF medications, the dosage and amount of time medication is needed will depend on how the patient responds to treatment.
The dosage and duration of time medication is needed can affect the overall cost of IVF.
Adding Additional Treatments to IVF
Adding additional treatments to IVF can increase the cost of treatment. Some of the treatments that may be combined with IVF include:
- Genetic screening: Pre-implantation genetic screening (PGT-A or PGS) and pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT-M or PGD) can be used to screen embryos for genetic conditions and abnormalities before implantation. Genetic screenings may also be used to select the sex of an embryo, commonly called gender selection.
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI): ICSI is a technique in which a single sperm is directly injected into an egg to increase the likelihood of fertilization.
- Surrogacy: For couples or individuals who are unable to carry a baby, gestational surrogacy may be needed with IVF. Surrogacy fees vary but will add to the costs of IVF.
Storing Embryos and Future Embryo Transfer
Other factors that can add to the cost of IVF are embryo storage and future embryo transfer. Patients who want to store embryos for future use will need to consider the storage fees necessary for keeping their embryos viable.
It’s also important to keep in mind that future embryo transfers will add to the final cost of IVF. However, it should be noted that future embryo transfer is often not as expensive as a full IVF cycle because the initial steps of egg harvesting and fertilization have already been done.
Learn More About IVF Costs
Don’t let fears of the cost of IVF prevent you from seeking treatment. At the Center for Fertility and Gynecology we aim to keep costs affordable and offer financing options to make IVF available to those who wish to start a family. For more information, please call (805) 807-1075 to schedule a consultation.