Dealing with infertility (getting pregnant) can cost you a lot of money. It can cost thousands of dollars for the various fertility tests, medications and treatments. Did you know fertility medications cost at least $1000 a month, one in-vitro fertilization treatment costs over $10,000 – and you need more than one to get pregnant – while reproductive technology procedures will run you $4,000 or more?
Advantages of Insurance for Infertility Treatments
Fortunately, you can obtain infertility insurance that can definitely lessen the financial burden of becoming pregnant. You will be covered in almost all aspects of your infertility treatments, depending on the type of coverage you have purchased. As such, your pocketbook is protected from further drains, so that money can be put to other uses such as getting the nursery ready.
Of course, the advantages of insurance for infertility treatments do not stop with the financial aspect. Your stress levels will also be considerably lessened knowing that you only need to focus on getting pregnant instead of worrying about money. Understand that high stress levels negatively affect fertility levels for a number of reasons.
For one thing, stress hormones affect the menstruation and ovulation cycles in women as well as sperm counts and motility in men. For another thing, stress causes the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle habits like smoking, poor diet, consumption of alcohol and drugs, lack of sleep and exercise, all of which are known to negatively affect fecundity.
Tips to Find Coverage
Indeed, the importance of infertility insurance cannot be overemphasized. However, it must also be emphasized that not everybody is eligible for insurance. Your private insurance provider will set criteria for your infertility plans such as age, number of attempts at conception and period of time from the time the insurance plan was taken out.
Fortunately, there are things that you can do to find appropriate coverage for your needs. These include the following steps:
Know your state laws regarding infertility insurance, especially when there is not yet a federal law that gives us comprehensive guidelines on the matter. Basically, insurance for infertility treatments can range from a state mandate to provide coverage for advanced treatments as in Massachusetts to a state law to offer coverage only when the employers wish to purchase it as in Texas. Ask your employer for coverage. You should look into the company insurance plans and seek to have your infertility treatments covered. This, of course, means that you have read your insurance plans, understood the fine print and tied them up with state laws. Make the provisions of the insurance contract as clear as day. Oftentimes, providers of infertility insurance will hide behind vague provisions to get away with not paying for many of your treatments.
You have many types of insurance coverage to choose from. Your choices: pay monthly premiums for certain infertility treatments or take advantage of refund programs. With these, you pay up front for the treatments, then get a refund anywhere from 70-100%, should you fail to get pregnant. Or you can take out a loan that is totally forgiven if you again fail to become pregnant.
Regardless of the type of infertility insurance selected, you must take note that it may not cover the whole process per se. Still, it is an excellent way to save on money and stress!
Copyright (c) 2010 Chris Jones
