Surrogate Mother: FSA Eligibility

What is a surrogate mother?

Surrogate mothers are women who have received financial compensation for the service of incubating a human embryo in their uterus and carrying it through until childbirth. Surrogate mothers are commonly employed by LGBT couples, infertile couples, and couples for whom the risks of childbirth are too high, such as for women with severe heart disease. Surrogate mothers are also commonly employed by wealthy couples who seek to avoid the bodily ravages of childbirth and can afford to do so. Surrogate mothers are legal to hire in some states in the United States, and are also commonly hired from poorer countries such as India and other East Asian nations. Surrogate mothers are expected to live a clean and healthy lifestyle and often cohabit with the employing couple for the duration of the pregnancy (WebMD).

Gestational surrogacy is the most common and popular form of hiring another human to subject their body to the stresses and taxing labor of childbirth instead of oneself. A gestational surrogate has a fertilized embryo implanted in her uterus. The fertilized embryo is artificially implanted via In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), having been created with the genetic material of the mother and father of the child. The gestational surrogate, then, is not genetically related to the child she is being paid to incubate in her body.

A traditional surrogate, as opposed to a gestational surrogate, is artificially inseminated by a male partner in the couple, and the traditional surrogate is then the genetic mother of the child.

Surrogate expenses are not eligible for reimbursement with any consumer-directed healthcare plan. The main reason for this is that consumer-directed healthcare plans cover an employee and their spouse, and cannot be extended to a third party, even if that third party has been hired as a surrogate.