News & Blog
Wisconsin Bill Would Require Coverage For Fertility Treatments
By insurancenewnet.com – Read Full Article
Excerpt:
After paying for artificial insemination, menstrual cycle charting, adoption of frozen embryos and related drugs and surgeries, Rachel and Chad Scott have spent at least $23,000 trying to become parents but have no children.
The Stoughton couple – Rachel, 36, works in preschool day care, and Chad, 43, drives a cement truck – say they have no money left to try more fertility treatments. They wish health insurance companies were required to cover the treatments, as is the case in 19 states. A bill before the state Legislature would add Wisconsin to the list.
“Our finances are exhausted,” Rachel Scott said. “Having to go childless when you want it so badly, because insurance won’t help cover the cost, is just cruel.”
Among the 19 states that have passed fertility coverage laws, 13, including Illinois, require coverage of in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, according to Resolve, an infertility advocacy organization in McLean, Virginia. IVF, in which egg and sperm are combined in the lab and the resulting embryos are implanted, can cost $20,000 or more, including medications.
