What is the price of a child? Or in other words: How much does it cost to undergo fertility treatment at a private clinic? At Babyplan, we provide an insight into what you should know, so that you have a clear idea of whether to save up, borrow money or the like.
It is incredibly difficult to estimate the cost of having a child. Some people find it easier than others to get pregnant through fertility treatment, so the price can vary from a few thousand kroner for insemination treatment to many thousands of kroner when the treatment becomes more advanced.
Here we look at what it costs to undergo fertility treatment privately, including subsidies and health insurance, guarantees, savings and loans.
- The price of fertility treatment
- No baby guarantee – but your money back
- Subsidies and coverage of costs with health insurance
- Savings or loans for fertility treatment
Price of fertility treatment
When you want to research how much fertility treatment costs, you will come across many different figures. The price of private fertility treatment depends on several factors, including the type of treatment needed and which clinic you choose. The price starts at 1,500 kroner for a single treatment and ranges up to approx. 120,000 kroner. Here are some general prices for the most common treatments.
Insemination (IUI): The price for a single IUI treatment starts from 1,500 kroner. This includes, for example, sperm analysis, freezing and storage of sperm, etc. Prices may increase if you, as a woman, need medication to stimulate your ovulation or other forms of supplementary treatment. You must buy the medication yourself at the pharmacy. However, you will receive reimbursement through your yellow health insurance card. You can also receive reimbursement through the Danish Health Insurance.
IVF treatment (test tube): The price of a single IVF treatment can vary from 30,000-70,000 kroner. Here too, you must take into account that there will be costs for hormone treatment to stimulate your ovulation, etc.
ICSI treatment (microinsemination): The price for a single cycle of ICSI treatment starts at around 40,000 kroner. As with IVF treatment, you will also need to calculate the costs of hormone therapy and other medications.
Make sure to do a price check
When you are going for fertility treatment, it is a good idea to check prices. Prices vary greatly from clinic to clinic. At the same time, price lists can be difficult to understand. Always ask what to expect beyond the price – for example, extra scans or other add-ons.
There is also a big price jump from simple treatments like insemination to advanced treatments like IVF, ICSI and egg donation when it comes to price. This means that you should be aware that the budget for fertility treatment can increase. This typically happens if you need to switch from insemination (IUI) to IVF treatment (test tube) later in the process, if insemination does not have the desired effect. So talk to your doctor about how many inseminations the clinic will recommend before you, for example, move on to IVF treatment. Then you will have an idea of when you may need to put down a larger amount.
Compare package solutions
In many places you can buy a package deal, where you pay for three IVF treatments at once to save money per treatment. The packages are often priced by age – i.e. prices increase when the woman is in her late 30s.
Always check what the package deals include so that you are not surprised by additional costs. It is a good idea to compare the packages with other clinics. If you get pregnant during the first treatment, you run the risk of losing money on a package deal. Since statistically most people will need more than one attempt anyway, it may also make sense. At the same time, it may give you peace of mind because you can better work out a treatment plan with a doctor that includes three attempts.
It’s expensive to have children through fertility treatment
– but they’re certainly expensive to have.
Did you know that according to calculations,
the first child costs around one million kroner
in round numbers until the child turns 18?
No baby guarantee – but your money back
Although the chance of getting pregnant increases when you start fertility treatment, as doctors are skilled at timing the right time for insemination or egg transfer in IVF treatment, there is unfortunately no guarantee that you will end up having a baby.
There are also very few clinics that will give a baby guarantee. However, the fertility clinic IVF-SYD is the only one in Denmark that has made the offer ‘Baby or your money back’. The clinic wants to send a signal that they are the best. For many, the agreement can be a financial security and give peace of mind that the clinic will do everything it can to help you achieve your goal – if nothing else, then you have not lost money. However, always remember to read a contract carefully and find out if it is right for you. ‘Baby or all your money back’ costs approx. 120,000 kroner.
Other clinics have different package deals and other great deals, so be sure to compare the clinics you are considering getting help from.
Subsidies and coverage of costs with health insurance
In some cases, it is possible to use health insurance to cover part of the cost of fertility treatment. If you have health insurance, it is a good idea to check what your or your partner’s health insurance covers before you get started. Through the Danish Health Insurance, you can also get subsidies, depending on which group you are in.
Here you can see the limits for subsidized medicine . The greater your expenses for subsidized medicine, the more subsidy you will receive. The maximum out-of-pocket payment for medicine can currently be DKK 4,435 in a year.
Savings or loans for fertility treatment
If you cannot find the money in your budget for fertility treatment now or in the long term, if the treatments become more expensive, you can consider saving up or borrowing the money.
Once you have spoken to the fertility clinic about your situation, you will have a better overview of where you stand and whether you may need to:
- save up for treatments before treatment begins
- create savings while you are in insemination treatment so that you are ready if you need to proceed with IVF treatment later
- get a bank loan set up
- borrow money from the bank or from family
- use the fertility clinics’ financing options.
This is what others do to find money for fertility treatment
If you have to find the money for a private clinic yourself, you are definitely not the only one. There are many who have to seek out private fertility clinics because they fall outside the requirements to be referred to the public sector. Here are a number of good suggestions on what others have done to find the money in their budget:
- I am a member of the Danish health insurance and have had all my medication reimbursed.
- We had good savings and have had a loan rescheduled.
- We were paying interest on the house to finance it.
- We used the money we got from our wedding
- We stayed in a small apartment to save money instead of buying a house.
- We borrowed the money from my mother because it would take too long to save up. We make monthly payments.
- We used our savings for the house.
- We went through all our stuff and sold off everything we didn’t need and saved up a lot of money, and then we put money aside every month.
- We have cut back severely on pleasures (restaurants, cinema, holidays and clothes, etc.).
- We got a bank loan. Afterwards we sold one of the cars. In addition, we put aside everything that was not basic salary – i.e. night and weekend allowances, etc.
- I spoke to the bank and told them that I dreamed of becoming a mother. My bank advisor had just had a small child herself and fully understood my wish. I was given the opportunity to borrow up to 100,000 kroner. I chose one of the clinics that had the cheapest prices and actually didn’t need all the money.
Be realistic – you can’t wait forever
If finances are tight, or you are still considering accepting the offer of public fertility treatment, always be aware of how long you and your body can wait.
One thing is whether you can stand the wait and whether it stresses you out. Another thing is whether it can affect your fertility as a woman if you wait six months or maybe two years. The longer you wait as a woman, the more difficult and expensive it can be to get pregnant. As a rule of thumb, fertility in women drops significantly around the age of 35, and after the age of 40 it plummets. However, statistics don’t say much about your situation. You can certainly stand out positively.
If you have not yet undergone fertility treatment, it may be a good idea to measure from the start whether you, as the female partner, have a good egg reserve (AMH) and whether your partner has good sperm quality.
Many clinics can analyze your ovarian reserve (AMH), where you can get the results the same day. AMH is the so-called ovarian reserve hormone – a hormone that is formed in the early follicles (ovarian sacs) in the ovaries. AMH is measured in a blood test. With the AMH value, a professional can estimate the number of eggs that can mature in your ovaries.
It is also easy to have your partner’s sperm quality tested at a fertility clinic – he can also easily test it via a home test.
Free fertility counseling for women and men (who do not have a referral to a public clinic) is available here:
- Fertility counseling at Rigshospitalet for everyone living in the Capital Region of Denmark
- Fertility counseling in Horsens for everyone living in the Central Denmark Region.
In Fertility Counseling, women’s and men’s fertility is examined to help them make the right decisions about when to have children.
At Babyplan, we wish you good luck on your journey to the child you want. We hope you are better prepared for what to expect if you are going to undergo fertility treatment at a private clinic.
