More states may cover same-sex couples' IVF treatment
Elizabeth dialed in her wife, Rebecca, so they could listen together: They were pregnant.
The
Elizabeth, a 35-year-old elementary school teacher, and Rebecca, a 31-year-old nonprofit consultant, had health insurance but it wouldn't cover the roughly
Beginning next year, insurers providing coverage in D.C. will have to pay for IVF for beneficiaries, including same-sex couples, who can't conceive on their own.
Only seven states —
The group emphasized the new definition should not "be used to deny or delay treatment to any individual, regardless of relationship status or sexual orientation."
Dr.
"It gives us extra ammunition to say, 'Listen, everybody who meets the definition of infertility, whether it's an opposite-sex couple or same-sex couple or single person, who wants to have a child should have access to fertility services,'" he said.
At least four states —
Earlier this month, the departments of Defense and
"The federal government is the largest employer in the country, so if they're providing these type of benefits, it definitely adds pressure on other employers and states to do the same," said
A total of 21 states have laws mandating that private insurers cover fertility treatments, but only 15 include at least one cycle of IVF in that mandate. Only
IVF involves collecting mature eggs from ovaries, using donated sperm to fertilize them in a lab, and then placing one or more of the fertilized eggs, or embryos, in a uterus.
One full cycle of IVF can cost between
Nearly 100,000 babies in the
IVF continues to garner nationwide attention in the wake of the
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