Paying for IVF in Australia.

Medicare pays part of the cost of IVF for everyone eligible, whatever your family looks like. What you pay on top depends on your clinic, how much you have already spent this year, and the state you live in.

Estimate your own costs with the cost plan

Medicare

If you are eligible for Medicare, it pays a set benefit toward each IVF cycle, whatever your relationship status or sexuality. For treatment outside hospital it pays $3,614.75 toward your first IVF cycle in a calendar year, $3,374.20 toward each later one, and $841.25 toward a frozen embryo transfer cycle. Clinics usually charge more than this, and the difference is called the gap.

Medicare does not pay for the day hospital stay for egg collection, and most clinics bill the anaesthetist separately.

If a surrogate will carry your baby, ask your clinic what Medicare will pay before you start.

Benefits from 1 July 2026, read on MBS Online on 1 November 2026 (items 13200, 13201 and 13218).

The Extended Medicare Safety Net

Once your out-of-pocket costs for medical services outside hospital pass $2,699.10 in a calendar year, Medicare also pays 80% of your gaps, up to a cap for each item. With a concession card, or if your family gets Family Tax Benefit Part A, the threshold is $861.20. These are the 2026 figures.

Couples and families count their costs together, but you may need to register as a family with Medicare first. The threshold resets on 1 January, so the timing of treatment can change what you pay.

Source: MBS Online, 2026 Medicare safety net thresholds.

Medicines

Most IVF medicines are on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), so you pay $25.00 a prescription, or $7.70 with a concession card. One clinic’s fee guide (Newlife IVF) says most IVF cycles need 4 to 5 prescriptions.

Source: PBS fees and patient contributions, from 1 January 2026.

Public services and rebates in your state

Victoria: Public Fertility Care

Public Fertility Care offers free fertility assessments and treatment, including IUI, IVF and ICSI, at health services across Victoria, led by the Royal Women's Hospital. Some costs may still apply, such as medicines and some tests.

It is open to single people and LGBTIQA+ people, and to people who need donor eggs or sperm or support with altruistic surrogacy. It runs a public egg and sperm bank.

  • Live in Victoria and hold a Medicare card.
  • Have a referral from a GP or specialist. Clinical criteria also apply, and there is a waiting list.
  • Be 42 or younger using your own eggs, or under 51 using donor eggs.
  • Up to 2 treatment cycles per person in a lifetime.

Source: Better Health Channel (Victorian Department of Health): Public Fertility Care, reviewed 15 January 2026. Read on 1 November 2026.

New South Wales: rebates and lower-cost public clinics

NSW Health funds lower-cost IVF for eligible patients at three publicly supported clinics: the Fertility Unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Westmead Fertility Centre, and the Fertility and Research Centre at the Royal Hospital for Women.

If you are treated at a private clinic, two NSW rebates may help. Claims go through Service NSW.

  • Fertility Treatment Rebate-2: $2,000 toward out-of-pocket costs for IVF or another assisted reproductive treatment received on or after 19 February 2025. You must live in NSW and either receive Family Tax Benefit, hold a Health Care Card, or have a household income of $116,000 or less. Apply within 90 days of treatment. Applications close on 30 August 2028, or earlier if the funds run out.
  • It cannot be claimed for treatment in the lower-cost public program, or for treatment only to preserve fertility.
  • Pre-IVF Fertility Testing Rebate: $250 toward out-of-pocket costs for fertility tests. Claimed once, by the person seeking to become pregnant.

Sources: NSW Health: Affordable IVF and fertility support; Service NSW: Fertility Treatment Rebate-2 guidelines. Read on 1 November 2026.

Queensland

In March 2024 the Queensland Government announced that it would publicly fund assisted reproductive treatment, such as IVF, for people with cancer or other complex medical conditions, and set up a statewide fertility preservation service.

The Statewide Fertility Preservation Service, run by Metro North Health, is for people aged 14 to 36 whose fertility is affected by cancer. A GP or specialist refers you. We have not yet found who else qualifies for publicly funded IVF in Queensland, or how to be referred, so ask your GP or specialist.

Sources: Queensland Government ministerial statement, 2 March 2024; Metro North Health: infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss referrals.

We have not yet been able to check this against an official source. Confirm it before you rely on it.

Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory: we are still checking what each offers. Your GP can tell you about public services near you.

Other ways to lower the cost

Bulk-billing clinics

Some clinics bulk-bill most of the Medicare-eligible parts of treatment, so they claim from Medicare directly and charge you little or nothing on top. Hospital, anaesthetist and medicine costs are usually still extra, and a clinic may bulk-bill some services and not others.

Ask any clinic exactly which items it bulk-bills and what you will still pay. The cost plan lets you enter its fee and see what Medicare covers.

Private health insurance

Hospital cover can pay toward hospital treatment for fertility, such as egg collection and IVF in hospital. Every Gold hospital policy must cover assisted reproductive services. Silver, Bronze and Basic policies may include them, but do not have to, so check that yours lists them.

Insurers can make you wait before you claim: up to 12 months for a pre-existing condition or pregnancy, and up to 2 months for anything else. Ask your insurer which waiting period applies to assisted reproductive services, and what your policy pays toward the day hospital stay for egg collection, before you start.

Sources: privatehealth.gov.au (Commonwealth Ombudsman): product tiers; privatehealth.gov.au: clinical categories; privatehealth.gov.au: waiting periods. Read on 1 November 2026.

Using your superannuation

The law lets super be released early on compassionate grounds to pay for medical treatment, but only if two medical practitioners, one of them a specialist, certify that the treatment is needed to treat a life-threatening illness or injury, or to relieve acute or chronic pain or an acute or chronic mental disturbance, and that it is not readily available through the public health system. You must also be unable to meet the cost another way. IVF is not named in the rules.

The Australian Taxation Office decides each application. Money taken out now is not there for your retirement. Read the ATO's guidance before paying any service to apply for you.

Sources: Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994, regulation 6.19A; ATO: Access on compassionate grounds.

We have not yet been able to check this against an official source. Confirm it before you rely on it.

This page explains how funding works in general. It is not financial or medical advice. Your clinic’s written quote and Services Australia have the figures that apply to you. No clinic or insurer pays to appear on Cairn.