Will My Surrogacy Be Covered By Insurance? [Health Insurance for Surrogates]

While health insurance for surrogate mothers may be a bit complicated, you will never be financially obligated for medical costs when you choose to become a surrogate for intended parents.

How insurance coverage for surrogacy pregnancy works varies based on your individual plan and circumstances. To help you better understand all of the details, we created this guide with you in mind.

You can contact a surrogacy professional today to learn more about health insurance for surrogates. In the meantime, here are some of the basics you will need to know about insurance coverage for surrogacy pregnancy.

Does Insurance Cover Gestational Surrogacy?

Surrogacy can be an expensive process with all of its necessary medical and legal costs. However, you will never be expected to pay for your surrogacy if you decide to carry a baby for intended parents, as they will cover all of your surrogacy- and pregnancy-related costs.

Part of these expenses will be covered by health insurance for surrogate mothers, either through your personal insurance or a plan that the intended parents will purchase for your surrogacy journey.

Intended parents may not always have to purchase separate health insurance for surrogates to financially protect themselves and their surrogate. Depending on the policies of their current plan, they may be able to apply their own insurance to certain aspects of the surrogacy medical process.

If you have a personal health insurance plan, your provider may also cover certain costs of your pregnancy, even though it is a surrogate pregnancy.

Whether your coverage is provided by a typical health insurance plan or a surrogacy insurance plan purchased specifically for this process, there are usually two aspects of the medical process that can be covered: infertility treatments and your surrogate pregnancy.

Infertility Treatments

Many intended parents will have undergone infertility treatments before deciding to pursue surrogacy. Therefore, they are likely familiar with what kind of personal insurance coverage they have for the in vitro fertilization process.

While 19 states have laws that require insurance coverage for infertility treatment, the scope of this coverage varies from plan to plan. Most insurance providers will cover infertility testing but may or may not cover the expensive process of IVF.

Each gestational surrogacy will require an IVF process, so whether the intended parents’ surrogacy insurance covers this process will need to be discussed during the drafting of the legal contract.

The intended parents may be able to purchase additional health insurance coverage for surrogacy pregnancy if their standard health plan doesn’t offer the coverage they desire.

Your Surrogate Pregnancy

When it comes to health insurance for surrogate pregnancy expenses, your surrogacy professional will work with your personal insurance provider to determine if they have exceptions for surrogate pregnancies.

If there are no exceptions, your medical expenses will likely be covered by your personal insurance. The intended parents will take care of paying for any necessary deductibles and co-pays.

If your insurance provider does make the distinction between surrogate pregnancies and traditional pregnancies, they may not provide the medical coverage that you and your intended parents will need. In these cases, your surrogacy professional will work with the intended parents to locate insurance coverage for surrogacy pregnancy-related expenses before moving forward.

While these plans can be costly for intended parents, they are important to protect all involved. You should never feel obligated to accept a plan that covers less just to save the intended parents’ money.

Ensuring Insurance Coverage for Surrogacy Pregnancy

A good surrogacy professional will walk you and the intended parents through every step of securing the necessary insurance coverage for your surrogacy pregnancy. This can be lengthy discussion between you all and each of your health insurance providers to determine what options are available for this process.

Today, many health insurance providers specifically state a difference between traditional pregnancies and surrogate pregnancies in their coverage plan, meaning they often don’t cover the medical costs of a surrogate pregnancy.

That’s why surrogacy professionals today conduct insurance reviews as part of the screening process for both intended parents and surrogates to determine what is needed before the two parties are matched.

Intended parents will often take more responsibility with this step, speaking with their insurance broker and a financial advisor to figure out which steps to take for full health insurance for surrogate mothers.

You may need to speak with your own insurance broker and your HR representative to find out similar information, although your surrogacy professional will take the lead on this.

Get Started Today

As a surrogate, finding insurance coverage for your surrogacy pregnancy should not be a worry for you. Your costs will always be covered and you will always receive any surrogate compensation agreed upon in your legal contract.

Remember, your legal contract will specify that the intended parents will always be responsible for your surrogacy- and pregnancy-related expenses. That way, the surrogacy process isn’t a financial burden for you and your family.

To learn more about health insurance for surrogates and your responsibilities as a prospective surrogate, reach out to a surrogacy professional today. We are always ready to help!