With more and more people opening up about their fertility struggles, many companies have created fertility financing programs for their employees. We’re here to outline a few ways in which this is happening…and what the future of surrogacy financing might look like. 

We’ll be honest with you: undergoing IVF or working with a surrogate is not free, nor is it a particularly affordable endeavor. It is, after all, a large undertaking and an investment into the future. However, it’s significance doesn’t remove the fact that it’s a procedure not everyone can afford out of pocket. In order to help more families have their babies, several organizations and companies have formed with the sole mission of creating fertility financing options for more people. 

Surrogacy Financing: Medical Loans

If you took out a student loan for college or a business loan to begin your own company, you might already be familiar with this concept. Essentially, taking out a loan means that you will be given access to a sum of money to finance a specific event or cause. You will then be expected to pay that money back to the institution that leant it to you in the first place. Generally, you will also pay interest to your lender for their services, but how much you pay depends on your loan terms.

In recent years, some lenders, particularly medical loan companies, have extended their services to include surrogacy financing. This allows intended parents to seek the assistance of a medical financing company to pay for their surrogacy journey. Companies like LightStream even offer their own fertility financing packages. Their interest rates start at 5.95*% APR, and they require no collateral or fees. A number of our families have worked with them to great success.

Surrogacy Financing: Fertility Benefits

Here’s a growing trend that we absolutely love: with the help of services like Carrot Fertility, an increasing number of companies are adding fertility coverage to their employee benefits packages!

Carrot Fertility works with nearly 100 different companies—many of which you’ve probably heard of—to give their employees a range of fertility-based benefits. This funding can go towards work with egg donors, surrogates, or adopting a child.

We spoke with Carrot’s co-founder, Juli Insinger, who told us:

“Carrot Fertility customers, like Slack, Box, Peloton, and Stitch Fix, are on track to fund more than $3B in new employer-sponsored fertility coverage to their employees this year. More than 50% of these companies will offer this benefit for the first time. Demand for fertility care continues to grow in today’s workforce, as more people face medical challenges or need more inclusive options to pursue parenthood. Looking ahead in the next five years, we believe fertility benefits will be a standard part of a workers compensation package alongside health, vision, and dental.”

We strongly agree with Carrot Fertility’s mission and are proud to partner with them and offer discounted rates to their clients’ qualified employees as they work towards seeing that future come to fruition.

Surrogacy Financing: Grants and Discounted Services

In some cases, intended parents may be able to access surrogacy financing through the means of a grant or discounted service through a special organization. One of those organizations is Men Having Babies.

Men Having Babies, an LGBT+ focused family-building foundation, has created a program called GPAP, or the Gay Parenting Assistance Program. We’re thrilled to announce that Extraordinary Conceptions is a participant in this program!

GPAP offers free or discounted fertility and surrogate services to qualified applicants who need financial assistance to make their dreams of being parents come true. The program has two primary forms of offering fertility and surrogacy financing to its intended parents:

  1. Discounted and/or free services for intended parents
  2. Actual monetary grants to be used towards family building

Men Having Babies offers over a million dollars worth of support to gay parents every year. As per the company website, this support is “funded primarily through sponsorship proceeds from our conferences and donations by parents and allies.”

If you have any questions about surrogacy, financing, or another aspect of your potential fertility journey, our team is here to help. Contact us today!