Surrogacy Insurance
Insurance is an important — and often complex — part of any surrogacy journey. From making sure your surrogate has the right coverage to understanding what you’ll actually pay as the intended parent, there’s a lot to sort through. With more than 30 years of experience, Circle Surrogacy simplifies and manages surrogacy insurance for you, so you can focus on building your family.
Does Insurance Cover Surrogacy?
As an intended parent, your health insurance will not cover your surrogate’s medical costs. However, your insurance may cover your medical needs during the journey, depending on your policy and your state’s laws.
For example, if you use your eggs to create the embryo, your policy may cover the cost of egg retrieval. It won’t cover the cost of the embryo transfer with a surrogate or pay for any of her pregnancy-related care.
Coverage also depends on where you live. In California, for example, state law requires large-group fully insured plans to cover egg retrieval when you're using your own eggs.
Will My Surrogate’s Insurance Cover Her Care?
Your surrogate’s health insurance may not cover pregnancy-related expenses like prenatal care and the delivery because many plans have “surrogacy exclusions.” Some policies don’t explain whether they have these exclusions, so we review every surrogate's policy before matching to identify any gaps in coverage.
Insurance for surrogacy also depends on where your surrogate lives. Some states, like New York, require health insurers to cover maternity care, regardless of whether the covered person is acting as a surrogate.
Since your personal health plan won’t cover your surrogate’s medical expenses, and if her own plan doesn’t include surrogacy coverage, you’ll need to purchase a stand-alone policy for her — which we’ll help you with! With insurance specialists on our team, we’ll work with you to set up a comprehensive, surrogacy-specific policy that is built to cover her prenatal care, delivery, and pregnancy-related costs.
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How Does Surrogacy Insurance Work?
A stand-alone health insurance plan for surrogacy is a specialized policy that intended parents purchase to cover the medical costs of a surrogate’s pregnancy and delivery. These plans generally require either a one-time flat fee or a monthly premium, and they last for the duration of the pregnancy. We recommend getting this plan after the surrogate contract has been signed and before the embryo transfer, to avoid paying too early for it and to ensure coverage is in place when it’s needed.
Do I Need Insurance for My Surrogate?
Yes, you will need to have insurance in place for your surrogate throughout your surrogacy journey.
The topic of insurance can feel complicated, but our team will walk you through the process of ensuring your surrogate has the right insurance coverage during her surrogate pregnancy.
You will need to have coverage for the following during your surrogacy journey:
Maternity
Complications
Insurance Denial (if your surrogate's plan denies coverage)
Life Insurance
After delivery, it is your responsibility as new parents to have insurance in place to cover your baby. For intended parents living in the United States, you may be able to add your newborn to your existing health insurance policy (having a baby qualifies as a "life event" with insurance companies to allow plan members to adjust policies outside of normal enrollment periods).
For international parents who need newborn insurance, you have a few options available — and our team can walk you through details on newborn coverage for international intended parents.
How Much Does Surrogacy Cost With Insurance?
Knowing what insurance will cost before your journey begins is part of what makes it manageable — and because that cost is fixed, it won't change once you're underway, regardless of the care your surrogate needs. With our Journey Protection™ Program, insurance is included in your fixed insurance cost of $25,000 — no exclusions, no surprise additions. Our fixed medical and insurance expenses include:
Premium/Gestational Carrier Payment
Copayments and Deductibles
Complications Insurance
Life Insurance
Insurance Defense
Insurance Denials
We provide in-house specialists who will help you put these policies in place.
We’re able to provide fixed costs for intended parents because of our extensive experience identifying, screening, and accepting surrogates with existing maternity insurance that covers a surrogacy journey — we've screened more than 150,000 surrogate applicants to date. In instances when a surrogate's insurance doesn't provide adequate coverage, we'll set up a high-quality, surrogacy-specific policy.
The insurance process works the same way for you, even if you live abroad. We’ll review your surrogate’s existing policy, and, if needed, set up a stand-alone U.S.-based maternity plan that covers her care throughout her pregnancy.
After your baby is born, your child won’t be covered under the surrogate’s plan, so you will need to get a separate newborn health insurance policy. We have over 30 years of experience with this process for international intended parents, and we can help you pick a policy that ensures your baby is covered until you head home.
Your personal health insurance is designed to cover your own medical care, so some treatment related to your surrogacy journey, like egg retrieval, may be covered under your policy. What it typically won't cover is your surrogate's care, since insurance doesn't extend to another person. That means your surrogate's pregnancy and delivery will need a separate plan.
If you don’t have personal health insurance, you can still move forward with surrogacy since you wouldn’t be using your own plan to cover your surrogate’s medical costs. Still, it may be worth looking into a fertility-friendly plan if you plan to use your own eggs or sperm. It’s also important to get insurance for your baby, which we can help you arrange.
A surrogacy exclusion is a provision in a health insurance policy that says it won’t cover maternity care if the policyholder acts as a surrogate. Some health plans have these exclusions, which means your surrogate’s own insurance might not pay for her prenatal visits, delivery, or other pregnancy-related costs during your journey together. Other plans may be unclear about whether they include surrogacy.
We review every surrogate’s insurance policy during the screening process to look for exclusions and determine if more coverage is needed. That way, we can help you arrange the right policy from day one and ensure your surrogate has comprehensive coverage throughout her pregnancy.
You’ll need to set up a stand-alone health insurance policy for your surrogate if her own medical insurance doesn’t cover surrogacy. It’s important to have this plan in place before any pregnancy-related appointments begin so your journey moves forward smoothly. We’ll walk you through the details and help you set up a surrogacy-specific policy if your surrogate needs one.
FAQs About Surrogacy Insurance Coverage
Do you have more questions about surrogacy insurance? Review our FAQs or reach out to our team.
Surrogacy Insurance, Handled for You
Whether you’re exploring surrogacy for the first time or have traveled this path before, insurance is one of the more complex parts of the journey. With us, you never have to manage these details alone. Our in-house insurance specialists work with intended parents every day to review coverage options, set up the right policies, and make sure nothing’s overlooked — always acting in the best interest of you and your surrogate.
If you have more questions about surrogacy insurance or want to take the first step toward parenthood, reach out to Circle Surrogacy today.