IVF in Korea: how a cycle is actually priced

Fertility treatment is one of the harder things to price internationally, because clinics in most countries quote a single “cycle” figure that covers different things from one place to the next. Korea does something more useful and more confusing: it publishes each step separately.

The published steps

How the steps assemble into a cycle

A conventional IVF cycle typically combines, in order:

1. Egg retrieval — both ovaries, with ultrasound guidance included in the disclosed price.
2. Sperm collection and preparation.
3. Fertilisation — either conventional IVF, where eggs and sperm are combined, or ICSI, where a single sperm is injected into each egg. ICSI is the more expensive line and is used for male-factor infertility and previous fertilisation failure.
4. Embryo culture — priced by how long. Culturing to day three or beyond (blastocyst stage) costs more than one to two days.
5. Embryo transfer — transcervical, ultrasound guidance included.
6. Freezing and storage of any remaining embryos, which is billed separately and is an ongoing cost rather than a one-off.

IUI — intrauterine insemination — is a different, much less involved treatment that sometimes precedes IVF. Its published price is a small fraction of a full cycle, which is one reason it is often tried first.

What is not in these numbers

This is where a step-by-step estimate diverges most from a real bill. The disclosed items above do not include:

• Stimulation medication. The drugs used to stimulate egg production are a substantial cost in every country and are not a disclosed procedure line.
• Monitoring. The repeated scans and blood tests through the stimulation phase.
• Consultations and the initial fertility work-up.
• Genetic testing of embryos, if it forms part of your plan.

Treat the sum of the published lines as a floor for the procedural component, not as a cycle price.

The practical problem: IVF is not a short trip

A stimulated cycle runs over roughly two weeks of daily medication and frequent monitoring, followed by retrieval and, if a fresh transfer is planned, transfer a few days later. That is not compatible with a one-week visit.

Many international patients split it: monitoring at home, travel for retrieval and transfer, or a freeze-all cycle with the transfer on a later trip. Which is possible depends on the clinic and on your own circumstances, and it is the first thing to establish in a consultation — before price enters the conversation at all.

Where these prices come from

Coverage for fertility procedures is thinner than for imaging or dental work — a smaller number of hospitals disclose each line, because fertility care is concentrated in specialist centres. Where fewer than three hospitals in a region disclose a price, no regional benchmark is shown, and the figure should be read as those specific hospitals rather than a market rate.

The fertility category page lists every step with its full distribution and the hospitals behind it.