Infertility Insurance
Infertility is defined as the absence of conception after one year of regular intercourse without the use of contraception. Infertility is a common issue in the United Stated affecting approximately 7.3 million women between the age group of 15-44. This problem which has been affecting families throughout the years has been curbed to a great extent through fertility treatments. Treatments include fertility drugs, surgeries, surrogacy, donor egg, ZIFT etc. Statistics prove that approximately 12% of women in the United States have received assistance for infertility, i.e. 1 in every 8 couples.
Unfortunately infertility treatments which involve medications and surgeries are extremely costly. Therefore infertility insurance plans are introduced to couples to undergo relevant treatments. Infertility insurance is a type of health insurance which helps people to cover their infertility treatments. At present 15 states in the US have passed laws to insist insurers to cover or offer coverage for infertility treatments: namely, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and West Virginia.
When obtaining such infertility insurance coverage the insurance company will agree to cover various infertility procedures. Typically general health insurance covers infertility treatments unless the policy has been agreed on a specific exclusion for infertility treatments. Even though many states request the insurer to cover infertility benefits in their policy the coverage is not yet universal. Therefore is it highly recommended to get a written approval in advance. The infertility insurance coverage specifically indicates the type of healthcare provider who will be covered under the policy, the types and sequences of tests and the specific types of treatments. In addition it also becomes vital to pay attention to the definition of fertility in the contract since the insurer might have an opportunity to deny the coverage if the definition is not well understood between the two parties.
Infertility insurance are of three common types:
1. Standard health insurance - this is the regular health insurance which has to be obtained by paying a monthly premium in exchange.
2. Refund programs offered by clinics - in this type of infertility insurance, the couple pays a lump sum of money to the clinic upfront for a set number of treatments. If the woman does not conceive as a result of the treatments the clinic will return a certain percentage of the lump sum.
3. Loans financing infertility procedures - here a loan will be offered to the couple to carry out relevant medications. If the couple does not experience positive results, they are not liable to pay back the total loan in full.
Among the above, selecting the most appropriate infertility insurance policy is a challenge which needs to be conquered through extensive research.
