Czech IVF insurance payouts to rise by nearly 4,440 crowns next year

From next year, Czech insurance companies will pay more for in vitro fertilization (IVF) than they do now, and will overhaul the payment system itself: instead of a single lump sum for the whole procedure, money will be transferred across six separate treatment stages. In total, payouts will rise by 4,440 crowns compared with current terms.

Payment by stage instead of a lump sum

Currently, the public health system pays for the entire IVF procedure as a single package, and one attempt costs the system 39,773 crowns. Under the new rules, this amount will be broken down into separate treatment steps. For example, 2,231 crowns is earmarked for diagnostics, 22,954 crowns for hormonal stimulation and egg retrieval, and 12,400 crowns for fertilization and embryo culturing. In total, insurers will cover six different treatment stages, and the combined payout will end up 4,440 crowns higher than it is today.

The other conditions for receiving payouts remain unchanged: only women under 40 will still be entitled to compensation, and only for three to four attempts.

Why the payment system is changing

Insurers are carrying out the reform at the request of fertility clinics, which point out that the IVF process has changed significantly in recent years and that the old payment system no longer matches current practice. The main difference is that most children conceived through IVF today are born not from “fresh” but from frozen embryos.

“Freezing and thawing technology has improved a great deal over the past seven years. It has also turned out that during stimulation, women's hormone levels become too high — they conceive worse than if the body is allowed to rest for a month and the embryo is transferred in a natural cycle without hormones,” explained Štěpán Mačát, head of the assisted reproduction section of the Czech Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and co-owner of the FutureLife clinic network, with which Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) is also linked.

How much IVF costs without insurance, and what's next for the system

For those paying for treatment themselves, the price of IVF varies considerably depending on the method chosen: the simplest options cost roughly 40,000–60,000 crowns, while if a woman needs donor eggs, the cost usually exceeds 100,000 crowns.

The change in payouts is not the only IVF-related reform this year. Health Minister Adam Vojtěch (also of ANO) also wants to relax the rules on who can undergo the procedure at all: currently in Czechia, only women with a partner can qualify for IVF, and the minister is proposing to open access to single women as well. The government has no unified position on the issue yet, but the plan is backed by Prime Minister Babiš — co-owner of several fertility clinics in the FutureLife group.

According to official health statistics, in 2023 clinics in this network carried out almost every third IVF attempt in the country. Babiš himself has repeatedly denied any personal benefit from the possible changes, saying the goal of the reform is not to support his business but to help women who want to have children.

Source: novinky.cz