Can I afford IUI?

Close-up of a doctor's hand writing on a clipboard with the patient's hand in frame.

IUI is usually the first fertility treatment couples and individuals try before moving on to IVF, and it's priced accordingly. A single cycle typically succeeds only 10-20% of the time depending on age and diagnosis, which is low enough that most clinics build a three-to-four-cycle plan into the conversation from the start rather than pricing round one as if it will be the only attempt. Because each cycle is billed as a standalone charge rather than a recurring bill, this calculator compares the total you enter against roughly three months of your budget instead of a single month's income.

These key factors affect IUI affordability

Base procedure fee versus medication costs

The insemination procedure itself is usually the smaller line item, often $500-1,500 per cycle. Medication is where cycles diverge in price: oral options like Clomid or letrozole are inexpensive, often well under $100, while injectable gonadotropins plus the monitoring bloodwork and ultrasounds that track your response to them can add anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $2,000-3,000 more. Add donor sperm if you're using it, typically $500-1,500 per vial from a sperm bank, and pre-cycle testing like a semen analysis or HSG that many clinics require before the first attempt, and the quoted "per-cycle" price can undercount what actually gets charged.

Insurance coverage varies enormously by state and plan

Coverage here is a patchwork. A handful of states require insurers to cover infertility treatment including IUI, but plenty of plans in those same states cover the diagnostic workup, the bloodwork and ultrasounds, while excluding the treatment itself, so patients end up paying the cycle cost regardless. Self-funded employer plans can also sidestep state mandates entirely under federal ERISA rules. Ask your insurer specifically whether IUI treatment is covered, not just whether infertility is covered as a diagnosis, since those are different questions with different answers.

Per-cycle success rates often mean budgeting for more than one attempt

Age and diagnosis drive most of that 10-20% success figure, and the odds fall further for women over 35 or in cases involving male-factor infertility. Most reproductive endocrinologists start steering patients toward IVF after three or four unsuccessful IUI cycles, since additional IUI attempts see diminishing returns while IVF's per-cycle success rate runs considerably higher. Pricing a single cycle in isolation understates what most people end up spending, so multiplying the per-cycle cost by a realistic number of attempts, and building in the possibility of an eventual switch to IVF, gives a far truer affordability picture.

How to use your results

Enter the full per-cycle cost including monitoring visits and medication, not just the clinic's base procedure fee
Run the estimate for both a single cycle and a realistic multi-cycle total, since most patients need more than one attempt
Confirm what your insurance actually covers before finalizing the number, since coverage for treatment often differs from coverage for diagnostics

Ways to make IUI more affordable

Ask clinics about multi-cycle package pricing, which can lower the per-attempt cost compared to paying cycle by cycle
Check whether your state mandates infertility coverage and get your plan's exact terms in writing before starting
Use FSA or HSA funds to cover treatment and medication costs with pre-tax dollars
Look into fertility clinic financing plans, nonprofit grants, and manufacturer discount programs for medications

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Peer comparison data

Bureau of Labor Statistics (median income by age), Experian (credit score by age)

Used by the “how you compare” figures in the sidebar, not by the costs on this page.

Every figure on this site, with its source and the date it was last verified