Does insurance cover IVF in Germany? Which health insurance fund pays more?

This page covers Germany, with a section on Austria and Switzerland.

How much you pay yourself for assisted reproduction depends heavily on your health insurance fund. The law sets the basic entitlement the same for all statutory funds, and some funds pay more under their bylaws. The fund details on this page come from the funds’ bylaws and benefit pages, as of October 2026.

This section applies to Germany only.

Calculate your out-of-pocket cost

The calculator estimates your out-of-pocket cost from your treatment, fund, marital status, and state, and, if you like, your tax savings as well. For Austria and Switzerland, you choose the country in the calculator. It is prefilled with rounded values from the clinic details further down (for insemination, with stimulation by gonadotropins), and it becomes more accurate with the figures from your treatment plan.

This section applies to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Which health insurance fund pays more?

The statutory 50% is the same at every fund. What makes the difference are voluntary bylaw benefits under Section 11, paragraph 6, of Book V of the Social Code (Sozialgesetzbuch V, SGB V). AOK Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland covers 100% of the approved costs, while AOK Baden-Württemberg, AOK PLUS, and AOK Rheinland/Hamburg pay 75%. Fixed subsidies per attempt are paid by KKH (€1,000), IKK Südwest (up to €1,000), and TK and AOK Bayern (€500 each), among others. BARMER, DAK, SBK, and four AOKs stay at the statutory 50%, and the rules of the individual AOKs differ widely. You will find more on AOK, including on egg freezing, in the article AOK and fertility treatment.

higher percentage (75% or 100%) fixed subsidy per attempt. 12 other insurance funds, including BARMER and DAK, pay nothing extra for the first three attempts, 5 of them only from the 4th attempt onward. Example using insurance fund rates of around €3,000 per attempt.

• By law, all insurance funds cover 50% for up to three attempts at IVF or ICSI (Section 27a SGB V). The table shows what individual funds pay in addition, sorted by the example value.
• * Example: insurance fund rates of around €3,000 per IVF attempt including medication, subsidies as a maximum value if both partners are insured with the fund. You can calculate your own case with the cost calculator.
• Unmarried couples do not receive a subsidy from any statutory insurance fund, not even through bylaw benefits (Federal Social Court [Bundessozialgericht, BSG], B 1 A 1/14 R).
• Bylaw benefits often change on January 1. Get the fund's written commitment before treatment begins.

What the statutory health insurance fund pays

Coverage is governed by Section 27a SGB V, and the details are in the Directive on Assisted Reproduction of the Federal Joint Committee (Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss, G-BA). The fund pays 50% of the costs it approved with the treatment plan. The plan expressly includes the medication as well, so the fund also bears half of that (Directive, no. 9.2).

Each fund pays only for the measures on its own insured person. The man’s fund covers sperm collection, preparation, and lab work on the man’s side, and the woman’s fund covers her treatment and the steps outside the body (Directive, no. 3).

Requirements

• You are married and use only your own eggs and sperm (Section 27a, paragraph 1, nos. 3 and 4).
• Both partners have turned 25, the woman is younger than 40, and the man is younger than 50 (Section 27a, paragraph 3). The cutoff date in each cycle is the first day of the cycle or of stimulation (Directive, no. 9.1).
• A doctor who does not provide the treatment has counseled you and referred you to an approved facility (Section 27a, paragraph 1, no. 5).
• The HIV status of both partners is known (Directive, no. 6).
• The fund approved the treatment plan before treatment began. A plan covers at most three cycles, and up to eight for inseminations in a spontaneous cycle (Directive, no. 9.2).

How many attempts the fund subsidizes

You get either IVF or ICSI paid for, not both. Exception: if no fertilization occurs at all in the first IVF cycle, two more ICSI cycles are possible afterward. The fund approves the third attempt only if fertilization took place in one of the first two. After the birth of a child, a new entitlement arises (Directive, nos. 8 and 9.2).

What the fund does not pay

• Freezing of sperm, fertilized eggs, and embryos (Directive, no. 4). The exception is freezing unfertilized eggs, sperm, or germ cell tissue before a germ cell-damaging therapy, such as chemotherapy (Section 27a, paragraph 4, and the Cryopreservation Directive, Kryo-Richtlinie). Fertilized eggs and embryos are not covered by this exception.
• Frozen embryo transfer: The transfer of thawed embryos is not one of the methods in the Directive (no. 10). Individual funds still pay something, see Frequently asked questions. After fertility preservation, the situation is different: if unfertilized eggs frozen before a germ cell-damaging therapy are used later, the ICSI with these eggs, the hormonal preparation of the uterine lining, and the transfer are among the services covered by the Directive (nos. 11.5 b, 12.3 b, and 12.8).
• Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) is not an insurance fund benefit (Federal Social Court, Bundessozialgericht, BSG, November 18, 2014, B 1 KR 19/13 R).
• Everything outside the approved treatment plan you pay for entirely yourself, because the fund covers only the approved costs (Section 27a, paragraph 3).

What out-of-pocket cost to expect

With an approved treatment plan, the practice bills at insurance fund rates rather than under the private fee schedule for physicians, the GOÄ (vitro-med). Published clinic figures per attempt:

The out-of-pocket costs from Augsburg and from vitro-med include the medication.

Example calculations from the calculator: Three IVF attempts for married couples, at insurance fund rates of about €3,000 per attempt, without tax:

Unmarried couples get nothing from the statutory fund. Two ICSI attempts at a self-pay price of about €5,500 cost €11,000 in Saxony, and the federal and state funding covers €1,800 of that.

Insurance fund pays You pay out of pocket. Applies to married couples with an approved treatment plan.

Switching funds: is it worth it?

Which health insurance fund is best when you are trying to conceive depends on your circumstances, above all on which of you is able to switch. A worked example using the out-of-pocket cost from vitro-med: Three IVF attempts cost you about €4,459 with the statutory 50%. At TK, that drops by up to €1,500, and at KKH by up to €3,000.

Before switching, you should know four points:

• Commitment period: You can switch only after at least twelve months of membership, and the switch takes effect at the end of the month after next. If your fund raises its additional contribution, you have a special right to cancel (Section 175, paragraph 4, SGB V).
• Timing: The new fund pays only for costs incurred during your membership and needs its own approved treatment plan. AOK Hessen and IKK Südwest expressly require a new plan if you switch during ongoing treatment. So switch before treatment begins.
• Who has to be insured: AOK Baden-Württemberg pays only if both partners are with it for the entire treatment, and IKK classic pays €500 only for two insured people, otherwise €250. At many other funds, the subsidy is capped at the costs of the partner insured there. The woman’s fund therefore matters most, because stimulation, egg retrieval, egg culture, and transfer run through it.
• Bylaws change: AOK NordWest eliminated its fertility benefit as of January 1, 2022. Get the fund’s commitment in writing before you switch.

Unmarried couples, same-sex couples, and singles

Unmarried couples receive no insurance fund benefit, because Section 27a SGB V requires marriage. According to the Federal Social Court, funds are also not allowed to extend this through their bylaws (BSG, November 18, 2014, B 1 A 1/14 R). Couples made up of a man and a woman in a stable relationship can, however, apply for federal and state funding: The federal government contributes up to 12.5% in attempts 1 to 3 and up to 25% in the 4th attempt, provided the state contributes at least the same amount. The man must acknowledge paternity.

Female couples have no entitlement even with a marriage certificate, because Section 27a allows only the eggs and sperm of the spouses. AOK Baden-Württemberg makes an exception: It pays women in a registered civil partnership 75% for the first three attempts, including with donor sperm, if both are childless due to illness (bylaws, Section 13). The federal funding applies only to couples made up of a man and a woman, and some states fund female couples from their own funds:

• Bremen: 50%, at most €1,200 (IVF) or €1,300 (ICSI) in attempts 1 to 3, and €1,600 or €1,700 in the 4th attempt.
• Rhineland-Palatinate: 12.5% in attempts 1 to 3, at most €400 or €450, and 25% in the 4th attempt, at most €800 or €900.
• Hesse: only the 4th attempt, 50%, at most €2,000 or €2,200 (state guideline until December 31, 2027).
• Saarland: also state funds for female couples, and you can ask the state about the amount.

Single people receive neither insurance fund benefits nor federal and state funding, because both require a couple. For tax purposes, the Fiscal Court of Münster (Finanzgericht Münster) recognized the treatment costs of a single woman with infertility in 2020 (1 K 3722/18 E).

Federal and state funding

Funding: Bremen, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia

Lower Saxony: No approvals granted since June 1, 2026

No funding: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Schleswig-Holstein

The federal initiative subsidizes only IVF and ICSI, specifically the out-of-pocket cost that is left after the fund and bylaw benefits. Married couples receive up to 25% from the federal government if their state of residence contributes at least the same amount. If the fund reimburses 100%, there is no funding. You submit the application before treatment begins, there is no legal entitlement, and according to the funding check, federal funds are scarce. Depending on the state, the clinic must be located in your own state or in certain neighboring states.

Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Schleswig-Holstein do not participate. In Hesse, the first redeemed prescription already counts as the start of treatment.

Private health insurance and civil servant health benefits (Beihilfe)

With private health insurance, your plan decides. As a rule, the insurer of the person whose infertility makes the treatment necessary pays (the causation principle). In 2004, the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) ruled that the private health insurance of a man with infertility must bear the entire IVF, including the treatment of his wife (IV ZR 25/03). Fixed age limits like those of the statutory fund do not apply there automatically: In 2019, a private insurer had to pay for the treatment of a 44-year-old woman, and what mattered was the chance of a pregnancy (IV ZR 323/18). If one of you has statutory and the other private insurance, have both insurers confirm in writing in advance which costs they will cover.

For federal civil servants, only 50% of the costs are eligible for Beihilfe under Section 43 of the Federal Beihilfe Ordinance (Bundesbeihilfeverordnung, BBhV). Similar requirements apply as at the statutory fund: marriage, both at least 25, the woman under 40, the man under 50, and only your own eggs and sperm. The costs are assigned to the partner on whom the service is performed. State civil servants follow the Beihilfe ordinance of their state.

Deducting fertility treatment costs from your taxes

What is left after the fund, funding, and insurance, you can deduct as an extraordinary burden under Section 33 of the German Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG), to the extent it exceeds your reasonable burden. Depending on marital status and number of children, that is 1% to 7% of your total amount of income, and it is calculated in steps, as the Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzhof, BFH) ruled (VI R 75/14). A married couple without children with a total amount of income of €51,130, for example, bears €2,403.10 of it themselves. Unmarried couples (BFH, III R 47/05) and female couples (BFH, VI R 47/15) can also deduct the costs. All the details are in the article Deducting fertility treatment costs for tax purposes.

Austria and Switzerland

The calculator above also works with the rules in Austria and Switzerland, so choose the country in the calculator. What IVF and ICSI cost in all three countries is covered in the guide Fertility treatment cost.

Austria: IVF Fund (IVF-Fonds)

The IVF Fund covers 70% of the Fund rate for IVF, ICSI, and frozen embryo transfer, for at most four attempts per intended pregnancy (Sections 2 and 4 of the IVF Fund Act, IVF-Fonds-Gesetz). You pay only your co-payment, medication included: in private contract centers since July 2026, about €1,136 for an IVF and €1,258 for an ICSI for women under 35, somewhat more from 35, and about €298 for a frozen embryo transfer. Each frozen embryo transfer attempt counts as one of the four Fund attempts in its own right, unless the embryos come from an attempt that was stopped for medical reasons after egg retrieval. Services outside the Fund rate may come on top; the Kinderwunschklinik Dr. Pavlik in Wels, for example, charges an additional €285 for a frozen embryo transfer. The requirements are one of the statutory diagnoses (fallopian tubes, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, or male infertility), the woman under 40, the partner under 50, and a contract center. You are married, in a registered partnership, or living together, both are insured, at least one of you has a primary residence in Austria, and you have Austrian, EEA, or Swiss citizenship or a suitable residence permit (IVF Fund Act, Section 1a, Section 4, paragraphs 4 and 4a). If the infertility results from a deliberate sterilization, such as a vasectomy, the Fund pays only if the other partner has one of the diagnoses themselves (Section 4, paragraph 3). Without entitlement, and for insemination, the self-pay price applies. Under Section 34 of the Austrian Income Tax Act 1988 (Einkommensteuergesetz 1988, EStG 1988), the out-of-pocket cost for medically necessary treatment counts as an extraordinary burden for tax purposes, to the extent it exceeds your deductible of 6% to 12% of income (Supreme Administrative Court, VwGH 2005/15/0138).

Switzerland: mandatory basic health insurance (Grundversicherung)

The basic health insurance pays only for insemination, at most three cycles per pregnancy, according to Annex 1 of the Health Care Benefits Ordinance (Krankenpflege-Leistungsverordnung, KLV). You bear the deductible (franchise) and 10% co-insurance, at most CHF 700 per person per year. You pay for IVF, ICSI, and frozen embryo transfer entirely yourself, and the calculator is prefilled with about CHF 8,000 for an IVF and CHF 8,500 for an ICSI, each including medication. For the direct federal tax, illness costs are deductible to the extent they exceed 5% of net income (Art. 33 of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation, DBG), which according to the federal tax administration also applies to hormone treatment, insemination, and IVF. From tax period 2027 on, this applies only if the treatment is medically necessary and would be permitted in Switzerland, so an egg donation abroad or elective egg freezing without a medical reason does not count. Most cantons also calculate with 5%. Exceptions are Schwyz with 3%, Glarus, St. Gallen, and Valais with 2%, Geneva with 0.5%, and Basel-Landschaft with no threshold at all.

Frequently asked questions

Which health insurance fund pays 100% for assisted reproduction?

Among the 28 funds in the table, only AOK Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland covers 100% of the approved costs, specifically for the measures on its insured members (bylaws, Section 31a). IKK Südwest pays the remaining 50%, but at most €1,000 per attempt (bylaws, Section 10h). AOK Baden-Württemberg, AOK PLUS, and AOK Rheinland/Hamburg pay 75%.

Does the health insurance fund pay for assisted reproduction for unmarried couples too?

No. Section 27a SGB V requires marriage, and according to the Federal Social Court, funds are not allowed to extend this through their bylaws either (B 1 A 1/14 R). Unmarried couples made up of a man and a woman can, however, apply for federal and state funding for IVF and ICSI in the participating states.

How many attempts does the health insurance fund pay for?

Up to three attempts at IVF or ICSI, up to three inseminations after stimulation, and up to eight inseminations in a spontaneous cycle (G-BA Directive, no. 8). After the birth of a child, the count starts over. A 4th attempt is subsidized by BKK firmus, AOK Sachsen-Anhalt, and the funds in the BKK Kinderwunsch program, among others.

How high is the out-of-pocket cost for IVF and ICSI?

With a fund subsidy, a fertility clinic in Augsburg quotes about €1,200 to €1,700 per IVF attempt and €1,400 to €1,900 per ICSI attempt, medication included. Bylaw benefits, state funding, and tax savings reduce the amount further.

Does the health insurance fund pay from age 40 on?

Not under the statutory rules: the entitlement ends for the woman on her 40th birthday (Section 27a, paragraph 3). AOK Baden-Württemberg pays its bylaw benefit to women from 40 on as well if the doctor confirms the chance of success; whether it then covers 25% or 75% is not clearly regulated by the bylaws. In the BKK Kinderwunsch program, for example at Audi BKK, the limit is age 42, and from 40 on there is only a fixed subsidy of €800 (IVF) or €1,000 (ICSI).

Does the health insurance fund pay for a frozen embryo transfer?

Not as a statutory benefit, because it is not one of the methods in the G-BA Directive. TK does, however, cover 50% for the transfer of frozen eggs from a preliminary attempt that it approved, and that counts as an attempt. If unfertilized eggs were frozen before a germ cell-damaging therapy, the ICSI, the preparation of the uterine lining, and the transfer with these eggs are among the services covered by the G-BA Directive (nos. 11.5 b, 12.3 b, and 12.8). In the BKK Kinderwunsch program, Mobil Krankenkasse, Audi BKK, and Pronova BKK, among others, each pay €350 for two frozen cycles.

Does the calculator also apply to Austria and Switzerland?

Yes. Choose the country in the calculator, and in Austria it calculates with the IVF Fund and in Switzerland with the deductible and co-insurance of the basic health insurance, each with the tax rules of that country. The calculator runs only in your browser, and Fertilio does not store any entries.

Sources

Laws, directives, and rulings:

• Section 27a SGB V: Assisted reproduction, Federal Ministry of Justice, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Section 11 SGB V: Types of benefits, paragraph 6 bylaw benefits, Federal Ministry of Justice, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Section 175 SGB V: Exercising the right of choice, Federal Ministry of Justice, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Directive on Assisted Reproduction, Federal Joint Committee, version of December 16, 2021, in force since February 9, 2022
• Cryopreservation Directive (Kryo-Richtlinie), Federal Joint Committee, last amended August 18, 2022, in force since November 15, 2022
• Health insurance fund: benefits for fertility treatment, Fertility Information Portal (Informationsportal Kinderwunsch), retrieved October 3, 2026
• BSG, judgment of November 18, 2014, B 1 A 1/14 R: Assisted reproduction only for married couples, report by Legal Tribune Online, 2014
• BSG, judgment of November 18, 2014, B 1 KR 19/13 R: No insurance fund benefit for PGT, report by the German Medical Journal, 2014
• BGH, judgment of March 3, 2004, IV ZR 25/03: Private health insurance of the man pays for IVF, dejure.org, retrieved October 3, 2026
• BGH, judgment of December 4, 2019, IV ZR 323/18: Assisted reproduction at age 44, Federal Court of Justice, 2019
• Section 43 BBhV: Assisted reproduction, Federal Ministry of Justice, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Section 33 EStG: Extraordinary burdens, Federal Ministry of Justice, retrieved October 3, 2026
• BFH, judgment of January 19, 2017, VI R 75/14: Stepwise calculation of the reasonable burden, Federal Fiscal Court, 2017
• BFH, judgment of October 5, 2017, VI R 47/15: Fertility treatment in a same-sex partnership, Federal Fiscal Court, 2017
• BFH, judgment of May 10, 2007, III R 47/05: Unmarried couples, dejure.org, retrieved October 3, 2026
• FG Münster, judgment of June 24, 2020, 1 K 3722/18 E: Single woman, press release of the Fiscal Court of Münster, 2020

Bylaws and benefit pages of the health insurance funds (all funds in the table are linked there with source and date):

• TK bylaws, Section 27h, as of April 17, 2026, and TK benefit page: Assisted reproduction, as of July 28, 2026
• Bylaws of AOK Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland, Section 31a, as of July 29, 2026
• Bylaws of AOK Baden-Württemberg, Section 13, as of January 1, 2026 (97th amendment)
• Bylaws of AOK PLUS, Section 11h, as of September 17, 2026
• Bylaws of AOK Rheinland/Hamburg, Section 12d, as of July 7, 2026 (18th supplement)
• Bylaws of AOK Bayern, Section 10l, as of February 27, 2026
• Bylaws of AOK Hessen, Section 12e, as of July 1, 2026
• Bylaws of AOK NordWest, as of December 16, 2025 (41st supplement)
• Bylaws of AOK Sachsen-Anhalt, Section 11b, as of December 16, 2025 (52nd amendment)
• KKH bylaws, Section 29q, as of May 2026 (99th supplement)
• Bylaws of IKK Südwest, Section 10h, as of October 2, 2026 (47th supplement)
• Bylaws of IKK classic, Section 34i, as of August 1, 2026
• BKK firmus benefits lexicon: Assisted reproduction, bylaws Section 12 XI, as of July 17, 2026
• BARMER benefit page: Assisted reproduction, bylaws as of July 21, 2026
• DAK benefit page: Assisted reproduction, bylaws as of September 1, 2026
• SBK benefit page: Fertility treatment, bylaws as of March 19, 2026
• Audi BKK benefit page: Fertility treatment, as of June 12, 2026
• Mobil Krankenkasse: BKK Kinderwunsch, as of August 10, 2026
• Pronova BKK benefit page: Assisted reproduction, bylaws as of January 1, 2026

Funding from the federal government and the states:

• Financial support for fertility treatment, Fertility Information Portal (Informationsportal Kinderwunsch), retrieved October 3, 2026
• Funding check of the federal states, Fertility Information Portal (Informationsportal Kinderwunsch), retrieved October 3, 2026
• Federal funding guideline, version of March 29, 2012, last amended December 23, 2015
• Funding of fertility treatment in Saxony, Free State of Saxony, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Funding guideline for Hesse, State Gazette (Staatsanzeiger) 52/2022, Giessen Regional Council, valid until December 31, 2027
• Guideline on fertility treatment in Lower Saxony, Lower Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs, retrieved October 3, 2026

Austria and Switzerland:

• IVF Fund Act, Federal Legal Information System (RIS), retrieved October 3, 2026
• We would like a baby: Information on the IVF Fund, Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, as of July 25, 2025, p. 9
• Costs with the IVF Fund, Kinderwunschklinik Dr. Pavlik Wels, as of October 2026
• KLV Annex 1: Benefits of the basic health insurance, Federal Office of Public Health, edition of July 1, 2026
• IVF costs and Fund co-payments, Private Kinderwunsch-Clinic Dr. Zech Innsbruck, from July 2026
• Section 34 EStG 1988: Extraordinary burden, Federal Legal Information System (RIS), retrieved October 3, 2026
• VwGH September 24, 2007, 2005/15/0138: IVF as an extraordinary burden, Supreme Administrative Court
• KVG Art. 64: Cost sharing, Fedlex
• DBG Art. 33: General deductions, Fedlex
• Circular no. 11 on illness costs, until tax period 2026, Federal Tax Administration, August 31, 2005
• Circular no. 11a on illness costs, from tax period 2027, Federal Tax Administration, May 26, 2026
• Costs of fertility treatment, Inselspital Bern, retrieved October 3, 2026

Costs according to clinics and a health portal:

• vitro-med: Requirements and costs, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Kinderwunschzentrum Augsburg: Cost arrangements, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Kinderwunsch-Arzt Berlin: Treatment costs, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Kinderwunschzentrum Ludwigshafen: Success and costs, retrieved October 3, 2026
• Kinderwunschzentrum Ludwigsburg: Costs, retrieved October 4, 2026
• Kinderwunschärztin München: Costs, retrieved October 3, 2026
• In vitro fertilization, familienplanung.de (Federal Institute for Public Health), as of January 7, 2026
• ICSI, familienplanung.de (Federal Institute for Public Health), as of January 7, 2026