Insurance is a tricky topic. If you’re just starting your journey, you probably have questions about surrogacy insurance. In this guide, we’ll cover:
- The situations in which health insurance covers surrogacy
- The cost of health insurance for surrogates
- Whether you should purchase a specific surrogacy insurance policy
- And more
In this article, we will answer these questions and more. However, every situation is different. This guide to surrogacy insurance coverage should not be taken as legal or financial advice. If you have any questions about medical insurance for surrogacy, please reach out to your attorney. To get more free information or start your surrogacy journey today, contact us here.
Does Insurance Cover Surrogacy?
Sometimes — but not always. Ideally, every insurance policy would cover surrogacy as if it were a pregnancy the intended parents were carrying themselves. But it’s not as easy as one would hope.
Surrogacy insurance policies vary widely from one provider to the next. That’s why one of the first things you should do for when looking for a clear answer is reach out to your surrogacy specialist. With their help, you’ll go over your insurance policy to determine what your next steps should be. Depending on what they say, you may need to find additional insurance coverage. They’ll also go over any out-of-pocket medical costs you might be responsible for.
Unfortunately, there’s no way clear way for us to say what kind of surrogacy costs you can expect to pay. When in doubt, please contact a surrogacy specialist or a surrogacy attorney to learn more about surrogacy and insurance.
When choosing a surrogacy agency, it’s important to find a professional you can trust. For intended parent Nicholas, he knew he couldn’t have done it without his agency:
“You need someone that you’re going to trust to choose a surrogate for you, and American Surrogacy was the only agency I felt comfortable with and was genuine enough for me to choose over the other agencies,” he remembers. “I spoke to many surrogacy agencies — small and big — and none of them made me feel the way American Surrogacy made me feel.
Trying to figure out whether surrogacy is covered by insurance and where to find surrogacy-friendly insurance can be overwhelming. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a surrogacy professional to get your questions answered.
Whose Insurance Pays for a Surrogate?
Again, the answer to this depends.
- Every situation is different, and every company has its own stance on surrogacy coverage.
- Because the surrogate is the one who is pregnant, not the intended parents, most intended parents’ insurance companies will not cover the medical costs.
- Instead, the surrogate will need to use her surrogacy insurance, if she has a policy that covers surrogacy, or the intended parents will need to purchase a separate surrogacy medical insurance policy..
- Intended parents are responsible for paying the cost of health insurance for the surrogate. Some intended parents must also purchase supplemental insurance for surrogacy to ensure they are covered.
The process of getting coverage with health insurance that covers surrogacy really depends. For some surrogates, like Codi, the process was relatively simple:“Insurance with our surrogacy journey was super easy,” she said. “We used my insurance; I’m covered under my husband. They called at the very beginning, when I was getting qualified, and they checked with my insurance company to make sure there were no surrogacy exclusions. Since there weren’t, my insurance company treated my surrogacy pregnancy like a natural pregnancy.”
In other cases, your gestational surrogacy insurance coverage can get tricky. In more complicated situations, the intended parents have the option of purchasing an individual plan, a secondary insurance policy that covers the surrogate’s medical care or paying for additional expenses out of pocket. The best option for you will depend on your own financial situation. It might seem costly to pay for medical expenses out of pocket, but supplemental insurance for surrogacy can sometimes be just as expensive. If you think you may want or need to pay the additional cost of health insurance for surrogates, then it’s a good idea to reach out to a specialist who can point you in the right direction.
We know that navigating surrogacy and newborn insurance can be tricky. But your surrogacy specialist will work with you to make everything simple and easy to understand. They know that all you want to do is complete your family or change someone else’s with as few obstacles as possible in the way. While working with surrogacy insurance companies can be stressful at times, any surrogate or intended parent can tell you that it’s 100 percent worth it in the end.
For surrogate Megan, she got more than she expected during her surrogacy journey:
“You get your baby kisses and smooches, and I get to love on Lindsey and Shiloh, too,” Megan said. “I didn’t just have babies for somebody else; I gained an entire family through the whole process….It was the most rewarding thing in the entire world. I would do it all over again.”
We hope that you feel the same way at the end of your surrogacy journey.
How Will the Baby Be Covered?
Your surrogacy specialist and attorney will help you get your child on your surrogacy insurance policy as quickly as possible based on your circumstances. When you create your pre-birth or post-birth order, the process will usually be fairly simple. Typically, adding a newborn to your insurance is the same as any other pregnancy.
The process of adding your baby to your insurance varies from provider to provider. You should get a head start by reaching out to your provider early on to make sure that your child is adequately covered. Like always, the surrogate will never be responsibly for any medical costs incurred for carrying the intended parents’ newborn baby.
How Will Our Specialist Make Sure We’re Covered?
Your specialist knows that finding the best insurance for surrogacy can be difficult. They also know how expensive it can be to get the coverage you need. They don’t want you to more out of pocket than you have to. That’s why they’ll review your current policy and work with you to try and save as much money as possible.
The most important thing in surrogacy is creating a family, but you shouldn’t have to overspend to do it, if at all possible. If you have any questions about the best way to afford your journey with surrogacy insurance, please contact a professional.