OBJECTIVES : Female infertility is major cause of morbidity in developing and in industrialized regions. The aim of our study was to calculate the annual health insurance treatment cost of female infertility in Hungary.

METHODS : The data were derived from the financial database of the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration (NHIFA), the only health care financing agency in Hungary. We analyzed the number of patients and the health insurance treatment cost for the year 2018. The following cost categories were included into the study: out-patient care, laboratory diagnostics, medical imaging, acute in-patient care, chronic in-patient care and drugs. Patients with female infertility were identified with the following codes of the International Classification of Diseases 10^threvision: N97.

RESULTS : The number of patients admitted to inpatient care was 12,693 with a mean age of 35.52 years. Number of patients underwent out-patient hospital care was 60,201 with a mean age of 34.82 years. For the treatment of patients with female infertility in 2018 the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration spent 15.355 billion Hungarian Forint (HUF) which equals 48.155 million Euros (EUR) or 56.819 million American Dollars (USD). Major cost drivers were acute inpatient care (63.2% of total health insurance costs)and pharmaceuticals (33.3%).

CONCLUSIONS : Female infertility represents a significant burden for the Hungarian health insurance system. The average age of women at the time of diagnosis is around 35 years which is higher than usual age for child bearing in the past decades.