Zora Health / Employer guide / Uruguay
Support employees through fertility treatment, and keep the talent you have invested in.
Fertility treatment rarely fits around a work calendar, and most employees go through it quietly, often while doing some of their best work. Zora Health helps you build practical fertility support, from policies and manager guidance to confidential care navigation and access to 128+ partner clinics in 16 countries, around your workforce and budget. Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with us.
Book an employer consultation Explore the cost calculator
Five things Uruguayan HR leaders should know
- Uruguay’s total fertility rate was 1.27 in 2023, and INE projects 1.2 for 2025 to 2026; preliminary MSP data counted 29,899 births in 2024.
- Law 19.167 of 2013 lets women use assisted reproduction regardless of marital status, from adulthood to under 60; donation is anonymous, and surrogacy is allowed only within the family.
- The Fondo Nacional de Recursos funds up to 3 IVF attempts for women over 18 and under 40; in 2026 the co-payment runs from zero to 85% of the cost, by the couple’s income, and women 40 or over pay privately.
- Maternity leave is 14 weeks and private-sector fathers get 20 days in total from 2026, followed by an optional half-time subsidy; there is no fertility leave.
- A fixed allowance for FNR co-payments, treatment after 40 and egg freezing keeps the budget predictable in pesos.
Why fertility is a business problem for employers
Fertility treatment does not fit around a work calendar. A clinic sets the date of a scan the day before. Egg collection happens when the body is ready, usually about 36 hours after a final trigger injection. Then comes a two-week wait, and for many couples, another cycle. Your team feels it: missed meetings, unexplained absences, a strong performer who suddenly goes quiet.
About 1 in 6 people worldwide are affected by infertility (WHO). We found no Uruguayan survey on hiding fertility treatment at work. In Carrot‘s 2023 survey of 5,000 people in Canada, India, Mexico, the UK and the US, 79% were uncomfortable discussing fertility at work. In Ferring‘s 2025 survey of more than 3,600 employees and employers in Australia, France, Japan, Poland and the UK, 60% said they were not clearly entitled to time off for appointments.
- Resignations. 39% of Ferring’s respondents with fertility challenges had left or considered leaving their job during treatment.
- Lower performance. 55% of Carrot’s respondents said fertility challenges had hurt their work performance.
- A hard age cut-off. The Fondo Nacional de Recursos (FNR) funds IVF only for women over 18 and under 40; a woman who turns 40 mid-cycle finishes it, but no later cycle is funded (MSP and FNR coverage manual, 2015).
- Unequal access. In 2024, 3 clinics were authorised for FNR-funded IVF (La Mañana). In 2023, the deputy health minister said access was limited by money and geography, with most use in the Montevideo metropolitan area (EFE, June 2023).
What employers gain
Keep the people you spent the most to develop
Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary, according to Gallup. The mean age of women applying to the FNR from 2015 to 2023 was 36.3 (JBRA, 2025), the years many women reach senior roles. A written policy, paid time off and a funded allowance remove some of the reasons people leave.
Stand out in a tight labour market
In Ferring’s survey, 73% of people with fertility challenges said they would be attracted to a role that offers fertility support, and 65% of Carrot’s respondents said they would change jobs for fertility benefits.
Make fertility support financially predictable
Aon projected a gross medical trend rate of 10.0% for employer health plans in Uruguay in 2026, against expected inflation of 5.3%.
Zora helps employers structure benefits around local treatment costs, FNR co-payments and SNIS provider cover, so HR can run the programme within an agreed budget.
Want to see what this would look like for your Uruguayan workforce?
What IVF costs, and what the state pays
Under Law 19.167, the Sistema Nacional Integrado de Salud (SNIS), through the mutualistas and public ASSE that FONASA members use, funds low-complexity treatment such as insemination for women up to 40, and the FNR funds IVF and ICSI fully or partly, up to 3 attempts (Law 19.167, article 5).
| Item | Typical cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| IVF or ICSI, one full cycle | UYU 344,182 | FNR reference price for 2026, with medication and one fresh embryo transfer; private clinic prices may differ |
| Elective egg freezing | US$5,000 to 7,000 | 2020; storage is charged as an annual fee |
| Sperm freezing | About UYU 4,000 | 2020 |
| Preimplantation genetic testing | FNR-funded since June 2024 | FNR budgeted about US$200,000 a year for about 100 couples |
| Embryo storage | Covered by the FNR for 2 years | After that, the couple pays or donates the embryos |
Sources: FNR co-payment table, valid to 31 December 2026; La Mañana, July 2020 (freezing prices, a secondary source); Ministry of Public Health, June 2024. We found no newer published freezing prices; the 2020 figures are likely to have risen.
| Item | Public support (or own savings) | What the employee still carries |
|---|---|---|
| Insemination at an SNIS provider, women up to 40 | Funded by the SNIS; since 2020 each of the 3 attempts carries the same subsidised co-payment | The co-payment |
| IVF or ICSI through the FNR, women over 18 and under 40, up to 3 attempts | In 2026, no co-payment for a couple’s monthly nominal income up to UYU 68,640; then 25%, 50%, 75% or 85% of the cost, or UYU 86,046 to 292,555 per attempt, with 85% above UYU 411,840 | The co-payment, plus travel to an authorised clinic |
| IVF at 40 or over | None; own savings | The full private cost |
| Egg or sperm freezing before cancer treatment, under 40 | Full FNR cover since 2022 | Storage beyond what is covered |
Sources: Ministry of Public Health, June 2020; FNR co-payment table, valid to 31 December 2026; La Mañana, June 2024 (clinics and cancer cover); Law 19.167. FNR funding requires residence in Uruguay and SNIS cover.
Age is one of the strongest predictors of IVF success. In the FNR’s evaluation of cycles requested from June to December 2015, deliveries with a live birth per embryo transfer were 46.7% for women aged 34 or under, 32.1% at 35 to 39 and 6.5% at 40 or over, from 112 women (FNR, September 2017).
By 2020, the FNR reported ultrasound-confirmed pregnancy in 33% of transfers, all ages combined (Ministry of Public Health). Many patients need more than one transfer, so the size of an allowance and when employees can use it both matter.
Give Employees Access to Fertility Specialists
Help employees navigate fertility care with access to doctors and clinics, treatment information, and clear guidance on IVF, egg freezing and other fertility options. Employees can explore their options privately, without needing to go through HR.
Fertility support that fits your workforce and budget
You do not need to overhaul your existing health insurance to support employees through fertility treatment. Start with awareness and manager education, add confidential one-to-one support, or introduce a funded allowance across your offices. There is no minimum company size.
Where included in the employer programme, eligible employees can use talks and care navigation without paying Zora a separate fee. Care navigation allowances are set in each proposal. Treatment and other third-party costs are paid separately, either by employees or through the fertility allowance their employer provides.
Companies starting the conversation
Essentials
Expert-led talks for employees and managers, fertility and menopause policy templates, manager guides and full access to the Zora app. Up to 2 talks a year.
Employees supported one to one
Navigation
Everything in Essentials, plus confidential one-to-one care navigation and access to our partner clinic network.
Large and multi-country teams
Complete
Everything in Navigation, plus quarterly anonymised reporting, a dedicated account manager and scheduled review meetings with HR.
Optional add-ons can be added to any programme, subject to availability: hormone and fertility diagnostics and telehealth with specialists. Pricing is tailored to your headcount, your countries and the services you choose. Most companies start with a single talk.
Request a proposal See how Zora works for employers
Comparing fertility benefit providers? Use our RFP question bank
Our RFP question bank has 40 questions, with why each one matters, what a good answer looks like and a scoring sheet for three providers. Six of the questions for Uruguay:
- Are local-plan employees covered, or only staff on international health plans?
- Do you require an infertility diagnosis before support starts?
- How does the allowance work alongside FNR co-payments and SNIS provider cover, and do you help employees apply to the FNR before company funds are used?
- Which clinics can employees use in Montevideo and Salto, and how do you support staff in other departments?
- Can employees aged 40 or over, single employees, same-sex couples and those who need donor eggs use the programme, given the FNR age limit?
- How is employee health data handled under Law 18.331, which requires express, written consent for sensitive data, and what does the employer see?
Your download link appears here as soon as you submit. Zora Health may contact you about employee benefits; see our privacy policy.
Plan your fertility benefit budget
Fertility benefit budget planner
Model the annual claims budget for a fertility allowance. Change any number.
This is a claims budget, not a Zora quotation. Zora’s programme fees, implementation and optional services are separate.
Illustration only. Utilisation is an editable assumption, not observed Zora data. The calculation assumes each user claims their full annual allowance, and excludes programme fees and setup costs. For a tailored model, request an employer proposal.
Estimate the potential workforce impact of fertility challenges
A rough planning scenario. It applies a global infertility estimate to your headcount, so it is not a prediction for your workforce, a measured loss or a forecast of savings from any programme.
Range: UYU 4,510,000 to UYU 12,760,000 a year, depending on replacement cost.
Assumptions: infertility affects about 1 in 6 adults (World Health Organization, 2023), applied to employees aged 25 to 44. Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary (Gallup, 2019); the headline uses the low end. Absence is valued at salary divided by 250 working days. Exit rate and days lost are your own assumptions.
This is a hypothetical cost scenario, not a prediction of actual employee departures, an estimate of Zora’s financial impact or a guaranteed saving from fertility benefits.
Already have corporate health insurance? Here is where Zora fits
Your medical plan may cover some consultations and tests, but fertility treatment is often limited or excluded, so check your policy wording. Employees still need to understand their options, the public funding they qualify for and which clinic suits them.
Zora works alongside your existing insurance and benefits. We help employees get reliable information, navigate their care options and reach suitable specialists, and we give HR manager guidance, policy templates and, on the Complete programme, anonymised reporting. You strengthen fertility support without replacing your medical plan.
How Zora works
For your employees
Employees join the Zora app with a company code, or single sign-on for larger teams. They can learn about fertility and egg freezing, understand what your benefit covers, book a confidential care navigation call and find partner clinics and specialists.
For HR
- Kick-off, week 1. Agree goals, countries and which employees are eligible.
- Policy and benefit design, weeks 2 to 4. Draft or update your fertility policy using our templates.
- Launch, typically weeks 4 to 6. A launch talk for employees and managers, plus a communications pack for HR to send.
- Live support. Employees book care navigation calls and use the Zora app.
- Reporting, every 3 months, on the Complete programme. Anonymised usage, common themes and our recommendations, reviewed with your account manager.
Privacy
Employee privacy is central to our programmes. On the Complete programme, routine employer reports contain aggregated engagement and utilisation information, with safeguards to prevent identification of individual employees. On every programme, personal health information is not included in standard HR reporting, and employees can get help without telling their manager. Where eligibility checks or claims administration need individual-level data, access is limited to authorised parties for defined purposes, as agreed in writing before launch. Employee data is handled in line with Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act and Uruguay’s Personal Data Protection Law (Law 18.331), which treats health data as sensitive data that needs express, written consent.
Clinics and doctors in Uruguay
Zora’s clinic and doctor directory does not list providers in Uruguay yet. It lists 421 clinics and 1,185 doctors across 25 countries, mostly in Asia Pacific and the Middle East (browse clinics or browse doctors). Employees in Uruguay can still use Zora’s education and the Zora app. Ask us how your team in Uruguay would use Zora before you launch. See Zora’s employer guides for every country.
Rules and eligibility in Uruguay
Who can use assisted reproduction
Couples and women regardless of marital status can use assisted reproduction from adulthood to under 60, with written consent (Law 19.167, articles 2 and 7). The FNR also funds single women and female couples when low-complexity treatment has failed or IVF is indicated (MSP manual). Gamete donation is anonymous and altruistic; a donor’s identity can be revealed only by court order at the request of the person born or their descendants (articles 12 and 21).
Surrogacy only within the family
Surrogacy contracts are void, paid or unpaid. The only exception is a woman whose uterus cannot carry a pregnancy because of a genetic or acquired illness, who may ask a blood relative up to the second degree, hers or her partner’s, to carry her own embryo. The agreement must be unpaid, and the Comisión Honoraria de Reproducción Humana Asistida assesses whether the conditions are met (articles 25 and 26; IMPO).
Fertility preservation
Since 2022, the law has covered gamete freezing for cancer patients of reproductive age (article 2, added by Law 20.062), and the FNR has paid for it in full for patients under 40 (La Mañana).
Leave for parents
Maternity leave is at least 14 weeks: 6 before birth and 8 after, paid by the BPS. Since 1 January 2026, private-sector employees get 17 days of BPS-paid paternity leave, and self-employed workers 20 days; either parent can then work half-time on a subsidy until the baby is 6 months old (Ministry of Labour). Employees also keep 3 employer-paid days from Law 18.345, for 20 days in total (Montevideo Portal, July 2024). There is no statutory fertility leave. A bill presented in March 2025, the “Ley Paz”, would give public and private sector workers up to 4 paid hours a month for treatment consultations and procedures and 2 paid days a year for an embryo transfer, and would remove FNR co-payments; we found no record of it progressing since it was filed (El Observador, March 2025).
Discrimination and health data
Law 16.045 bans sex discrimination at every stage of employment, naming dismissal for changes in marital status, pregnancy or breastfeeding (IMPO). Under Law 11.577, an employer that dismisses a woman during pregnancy or after maternity leave owes 6 months’ pay on top of standard severance; courts require that the employer knew of the pregnancy, so the Ministry advises formal notice (Ministry of Labour). Under Law 18.331, health data is sensitive (article 4) and can be processed only with the person’s express, written consent (article 18).
Why employers choose Zora
Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with Zora Health. We work alongside your existing insurance, helping employees use the cover they already have and find suitable specialists based on their needs.
Trying to conceive with a heavy workload took a toll on my husband and me. It helped us understand our options.
Questions HR teams ask us
Is fertility leave mandatory in Uruguay?
No. We found no statutory fertility or IVF leave in Uruguay. Maternity leave is at least 14 weeks. Since 1 January 2026, private-sector fathers get 17 days of BPS-paid paternity leave plus 3 employer-paid days, and either parent can take a half-time subsidy until the baby is 6 months old. Time off for treatment depends on company policy or sick leave.
Does the state pay for IVF in Uruguay?
Yes, through the Fondo Nacional de Recursos. It funds up to 3 IVF or ICSI attempts for residents with SNIS cover who are women over 18 and under 40 and meet medical criteria. The co-payment depends on the couple’s income: in 2026, none up to a monthly nominal income of UYU 68,640, rising to 85% of the cost above UYU 411,840. SNIS health providers fund insemination for women up to 40. Women 40 or over pay privately.
Can employees freeze their eggs in Uruguay?
Yes. The FNR pays in full for egg or sperm freezing before cancer treatment for patients under 40. Elective egg freezing is paid privately; in 2020 it cost US$5,000 to 7,000, plus an annual storage fee, and prices have likely risen since.
Does Zora replace our health insurance?
No. Zora works alongside your insurance. We help employees understand their options, find suitable specialists and use the cover they already have.
How much does a fertility benefit cost an employer?
It depends on the allowance, eligibility and expected uptake. Use the budget planner on this page for a first estimate, then ask us for a tailored proposal based on your headcount and countries.
How quickly can we launch?
Typically 4 to 6 weeks from contract to launch, depending on scope and countries. Most companies start with a single talk.
Related guides for Uruguayan employers
Build a fertility benefit for your team
Whether you are introducing fertility benefits for the first time or improving an existing programme, tell us your headcount, countries and priorities. We will come back within two working days with suitable services, an indicative budget and a practical rollout plan for your Uruguayan team. No obligation.
Not ready to talk yet? Explore how Zora works
Sources
- IMPO, Law 19.167 on assisted human reproduction techniques, 2013
- IMPO, Reproducción humana asistida, plain-language summary of Law 19.167, updated May 2023
- Ministry of Public Health and FNR, Manual para la reproducción asistida de alta complejidad, 2015
- Montevideo Portal, PN presenta proyecto que elimina límite de edad en reproducción asistida, 3 February 2017
- Fondo Nacional de Recursos, Tabla de copagos de reproducción humana asistida, valid to 31 December 2026
- La Mañana, ten years of Law 19.167 and FNR coverage, 27 June 2024
- La Mañana, Fertilidad: MSP y legisladores convergen en política de estímulo, 3 July 2020
- Ministry of Public Health, Técnicas de reproducción humana asistida más accesibles, 24 June 2020
- Ministry of Public Health, Fondo Nacional de Recursos amplía cobertura de tratamientos de reproducción humana, 3 June 2024
- EFE via El Mercurio, Uruguay registra 2.099 nacidos vivos por tecnología de reproducción asistida, 2 June 2023
- Fondo Nacional de Recursos, Técnicas de reproducción humana asistida: reporte de resultados, September 2017
- JBRA Assisted Reproduction, P-029 Uruguayan assisted reproductive technologies legislation: 10 years of experience, 2025
- INE, Estimaciones y proyecciones de población, revisión 2025, 17 July 2025
- El Observador, Uruguay registró la cifra más baja de nacimientos desde fines del siglo XIX, 9 April 2025
- Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Maternidad y paternidad
- Montevideo Portal, Senado aprobó por unanimidad la extensión de la licencia paternal, 23 July 2024
- IMPO, Law 16.045 on equal treatment and opportunity at work, 1989
- IMPO, Law 11.577, article 17, 1950
- IMPO, Law 18.331 on personal data protection, articles 4 and 18, 2008
- Aon, The Global Medical Trend Rates Report 2026, October 2025 (PDF copy hosted by Consultorsalud)
- Instituto Cuesta Duarte, Análisis del mercado de trabajo, primer trimestre de 2026 (INE data), May 2026
- El Observador, Ley Paz: the assisted reproduction bill presented to Parliament, 12 March 2025
- Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Fertility Matters at Work and This Can Happen, workplace fertility survey, November 2025
- Carrot Fertility, Global Fertility at Work report, 2023
- Gallup, This fixable problem costs US businesses $1 trillion, 2019
- World Health Organization, 1 in 6 people globally affected by infertility, April 2023
Information on this page is correct as of 5 November 2026. Laws, public funding, insurance rules and treatment costs change often, so check current rules with the relevant authority, insurer or a qualified adviser before making decisions. This page is general information, not legal, financial, tax or medical advice.