As many people with fertility issues quickly learn — 7.4 million women used infertility services from 2006 to 2010 — few employers and insurers pay for many procedures, including in vitro fertilization. Though 65 percent of businesses with more than 500 employees will pay for an initial evaluation by a fertility specialist, just 27 percent cover in vitro fertilization, according to a 2013 study conducted by Mercer, a consulting firm. (That number was 23 percent in 2012.) Drug therapies were covered by 41 percent of large employers, according to the study.
Tag: Insurance Coverage
VA urged to pay fertility bills
WASHINGTON — The roadside bomb that exploded outside Andrew Robinson’s Humvee in Iraq six years ago broke the Marine staff sergeant’s neck and left him without use of his legs. It also cast doubt on his ability to father a child, a gnawing emotional wound for a then-23-year-old who had planned to start a family with his wife of less than two years.
The catastrophic spinal cord injury meant the couple’s best hope for children was in vitro fertilization, an expensive and time-consuming medical procedure whose cost isn’t covered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Robinson and his wife were forced to pay out of pocket, with help from a doctor’s discount and drugs donated by other patients. Read full article.