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IVF Benefits Grow as Employers Seek Edge in Tight Labor Market
Jaclyn Glass paid $8,000 out-of-pocket for two IVF rounds, thanks to a New Jersey mandate. Employer coverage has doubled since 2020, but caps remain tight. Egg freezing coverage surged from 2% to 18% in a decade.
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Jaclyn Glass started IVF in 2020 with no idea her employer's insurance would cover part of the cost. A New Jersey mandate made it possible, and she had a son in 2022. Her out-of-pocket cost for two rounds was $8,000. The average single IVF cycle in the U.S. runs $23,474. Her husband Dustin puts it simply: "The ability to have a child shouldn't be one of them [determined by your finances]."
State mandates have expanded since 2020. Fourteen states and Washington, D.C. now require at least some employer plans to help pay for IVF, according to RESOLVE. New Jersey is one. Yet the mandates often exempt small employers, and 67% of insured workers are in self-funded plans that skip state rules, per KFF. So voluntary employer coverage is the real lever.
At large companies it has grown sharply. Mercer found 50% of employers with 500-plus workers covered IVF in 2025, up from 27% in 2020. Among those with 20,000 or more workers, 77% covered it, nearly double 2020's 42%. The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' 2026 survey of 495 employers of all sizes showed 30% covering IVF, down a tick from 32% in 2024 but still double the 14% from a decade ago.