There she goes again, talking about the need for insurance coverage for fertility treatments. What a broken record.
Yes, you’re right. It is a topic I cover often here – this crazy notion that your reproductive health is just as important as other (covered) aspects of your health and well-being.
But, I do find great comfort in the fact that I am not alone. The vast majority of you who took this poll agreed with me. RESOLVE, the national infertility association has an entire advocacy network set up in support of it.
This week some ladies have created an online petition …read more

May 15 is Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day. I hate feeling left out, so Fertility Notes has joined the charge!
In my mind, reproductive rights and women’s right to affordable and accessible health care are human rights issues. I think the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights agrees with me. Article 16 in it says:
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be …read more

One of my first posts here at Fertility Notes was on the Family Building Act of 2007, legislation which would require the 90% of private insurance companies that don’t currently cover fertility treatments to do so.
If you aren’t among the lucky customers of the other 10%, there are places you can go to apply for financial assistance with your fertility treatments. Several fertility clinics offer shared cycle programs which defray the costs of using donor eggs. If you are planning to use in vitro fertilization (IVF), the International Council on Infertility Information Dissemination, Inc (INCID) offers scholarships to those in …read more

In addition to being a strain on marriages and sanity, infertility places an enormous financial burden on individuals and couples who are trying to conceive. Average costs of one cycle of in vitro fertilization are around $10,000, while using third party reproductive techniques such as egg donation can easily reach into the $30,000 range – for each attempt.
 

Unless you have a fabulous insurance plan which covers fertility treatments (they are rumored to exist) you can count on paying out of pocket for any and all expenses related to your reproduction.

But wait, there’s hope.
 

The Family Building …read more