Egg Freezing Costs: What does it really cost?
Our “What does it really cost” series sheds light on how much different women across the country spend on the big life events: having a baby, taking a sabbatical year, moving, getting a master’s degree, buying a house, etc. This week’s feature is highlighting one woman’s egg freezing costs.
Location: Boston, MA
Age: 33
What were your total egg freezing costs?
The IVF clinic I attended offered everything that I needed outside of the initial consultation visit and the fertility medications themselves for a package cost of $6,500. This included all labs, visits, ultrasounds, physician consultation, everything the day of the procedure including anesthesia and a follow-up visit. I was very lucky and my insurance paid for all of the fertility meds except for a $100 copay (these are generally around $4,000 out of pocket). I have Allways health insurance through Mass General Hospital. Since the egg freezing, I have paid $100 a month for storage fees. They offered some packages upfront that reduced that cost slightly if you paid for 5 years or 10 years at a time, but I didn’t feel like that made sense for me.
Final Costs: About $6,600 plus $100/month ongoing cost for storage.
Was this more or less than you were expecting?
Honestly, the medications being covered was a total surprise. I had researched a good bit and expected it to cost me around $10,000 in the Boston area.
Were there other options that you considered? What are the pros and cons of this compared to other options?
I really didn’t consider other options as I had researched a good bit and thought this made sense for me at the time I was at. My fertility doctor was amazing and after we talked about all of my numbers in my consultation she said we could either do the procedure now or continue with yearly monitoring of my labs if it felt like the cost was too much for me in the moment. She said that yearly labs and monitoring are a reasonable strategy for people that want to save the money over time and it allows you to “catch” things if your fertility is decreasing some.
What do you wish you would have known?
I may have even done it sooner if I had known the meds would be covered through my insurance!
In conclusion, this woman’s total egg freezing costs were ~$6,600 for one cycle.
We hope this gives you insights into how someone else navigated the expensive process of egg freezing. Do these costs surprise you?
This post was created as part of the “What does it really cost series?” Her Personal Finance’s mission is to help high-earning women take charge of their finances. As an MBA, our founder has a particular passion for supporting this community. Here is a link to a Q&A with Harvard Business School students about finances in school. You can also learn more about our founder and our classes on our website.
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