The Funded IVF Cycle in Ontario
When I told people I was doing IVF, I got “but at least it’s free, right?”
Wrong. IVF is still expensive in Ontario! The government funding helps, but it doesn’t make it free.
It’s a misconception that you get ONE FREE IVF CYCLE in Ontario. Some of the costs are funded by the provincial government. Not all…
I’ve done both the one funded cycle as well as paid cycles of IVF.
The price difference between them was honestly not that big.
What You Pay
Before you read the prices below, please note: The cost of IVF drugs has a wide range per cycle and per person depending on the drug protocol your doctor chooses and how many days you are on the drugs. This means what I paid will likely not be what you will pay (all prices below are in Canadian dollars).
My funded cycle cost $7,195 out of pocket.
($6,800 for drugs, $395 for embryo storage)
In comparison, my first unfunded cycle, where the drugs happened to be slightly more expensive, cost $14,706.
What The Ontario Government Pays
According to my calculations, OHIP paid $7,305 for IVF with ICSI, embryo storage, and transfer procedures.
You can also get money back from your tax return if your out-of-pocket medical expenses are more than $1000. Keep all of your receipts, and keep track of what your insurance covered. You can also ask your fertility clinic for a summary of payments for a certain tax year.
What Is Covered?
The Funded Cycle includes one egg retrieval (with or without ICSI), embryo storage for one year, and as many transfers as you have embryos.
OHIP also pays for necessary fertility-related surgeries, blood tests, ultrasounds, and doctors’ time.
What Is Not Covered?
You have to pay for all of the medications yourself or with the help of your work or private insurance. This is the biggest expense.
The other huge expense that is not covered is genetic testing of the embryos (PGT or PGS). At my clinic, it was $4000 for the first 8 embryos, then $250 per embryo after that.
In addition, there are many hidden costs to doing IVF like gas, parking, travel, accomodations, and having to take time off work.
Ontario Funded IVF
I am incredibly lucky and grateful that IVF is an option for us, and that we’ve had the support of family to help pay for these costs. Not everyone who is dealing with infertility has the ability to do IVF for a variety of reasons including location, finances, culture, or systemic blocks.
Even though Ontario funds some of one IVF cycle, there are still so many financial barriers to raise the money for the medications, which are not at all free, and in fact incredibly expensive.
With infertility affecting 1 in 6 couples in Canada, we need a big change for people to have real access to grow their families with IVF.
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