Finances and Surrogacy

angelfire02

I know that a lot depends on the circumstances but I wondered if anyone who has done (or is doing) surrogacy could give me an idea of the cost?  I have just started looking into the process and in my area we only have one agency.  They have done 70 surrogacys over 10 years, I'm not sure if I think that's a lot, or not many....but it's not a super small city.  Anyway, the figures that are in their 'Information packet' are so vague I'm just confused by them.  So if anyone would be willing to share your experience I would be very grateful.  Thank you!

sammer818

I'm just starting the process, but we did go over finances with the agency and our doctor recently. We are expecting to pay around $100,000. There are two agencies in my state - one charges $25,000 and one charges $14,000. If you have a first time carrier, the average range is between $18000 and $23000. Experienced carriers are usually $25000 and up. Plus, you have to factor in whether or not your carrier has their own insurance or if you will be paying for a policy to cover her. Another cost would be if you are using donor eggs/embryos (we are not and that can add another $10,000).

All of these figures are for the midwest and are according to my agency and fertility clinic. If you live on the coast, my agency has found that the costs are generally higher.

There really isn't a set range and it all depends on your circumstance, your carrier, and your situation. If you have to do multiple transfers, if you have multiples, if there are complications, bedrest for the carrier..all of these can be "hidden" costs in the process. Alnother thing - legal fees are going to be extremely high. There are a lot of contracts and lawyer stuff that goes into surrogacy.

 It's also a good idea to look into the surrogacy laws in your particular state. Some states make it illegal to compensate a carrier and some are not surrogate friendly.

Like I said, I'm still very new to this, but this is the information I've gotten so far. Hope it helps.

ThriftyMom

I'm a lurker so I hope it's okay to post here.  We are looking into surrogacy also and the cost is staggering.  

One option that we are looking into is going abroad. There are very well established programs in India, Ukraine and Panama which claim to offer surrogacy for as little as $25k-$50k.  

The process is very complicated, but maybe something to look into.  It's not for everyone, but there are options available. 

  

Mama-Bear

My IP's had to pay the agency fee, all of the IF treatments for IM's ER and my ET, my medical bills, 1/2 of my COBRA (normally this would be totally covered by IP's if needed, but we knew it was coming before the contracts, we all really wanted to match with one another so we agreed to split the cost through 8w pp), maternity clothes, a monthly allowance, compensation, and legal fees (and it'll be an extra few thousand because MO isn't a "surrogacy friendly" state).  I have no idea how much it will have cost them by the time it's said and done.  Luckily there's just 1 baby (so no multiples fee), I've not needed BR (so no childcare and housekeeping), no higher monthly allowance/maternity allowance.  We've had a very uncomplicated pg so it's really saved them a ton of money, any complication can totally blow your budget, I've heard a good amount to set aside (or have available) is $100k just so that you don't have to worry about where you're going to get the money from if something does happen.