Infertility remains a common problem for both men and women in the United States, but insurance policies often don’t cover treatments. Getting in vitro fertilization can cost around $20,000, and for many individuals that’s simply too much to afford. Jessica Tincopa, for example, is considering leaving her photography business for a job that may have better medical coverage options.

Even though she spent 14 years building up the business, she doesn’t have the health insurance she needs to have her IVF treatments covered. Tincopa and her husband have experienced six miscarriages, and want to expand their family. Without some insurance coverage for the procedure, though, there’s not a lot of opportunity to do that.

The pandemic took most of the couple’s savings, and they’re starting over to save up for another IVF round. They looked for insurance policies on their state’s marketplace that would cover IVF, but none of them would. However, there are insurance companies and policies that cover IVF and other fertility treatments. The difficulty is in finding one, and a job that offers it.

Nearly one in five married women between 15 and 49 struggles with fertility, the CDC estimates. That’s a lot of women dealing with a very important medical issue. Additionally, there are also men who have fertility issues. Getting insurance coverage to find the cause of the problem and provide options is extremely important for anyone in this situation who wants to have a child.

Receiving IVF treatment remains something that’s primarily for people who have a certain level of income or access to other funds, and that leaves a lot of working couples and individuals out of the equation. The argument for covering IVF through insurance is that these individuals deserve to have children just as much as others who might have more money to pay for treatment.

In 2022, 54% of the largest US employers had insurance coverage that included IVF. For the rest of the large companies, and the vast majority of smaller ones, though, the coverage wasn’t offered to employees. It’s also not on most marketplace plans, so self-employed people are also out of luck.

If you’d like to learn more about the legal aspects of growing your family through surrogacy, contact us today! The contracts that we prepare for our clients are comprehensive and thorough. Some of the services we provide include counseling clients on the state of the law with respect to the different reproduction methods available; drafting contract(s) between intended parents and their surrogate or donor; assisting future parents in finalizing their parental rights; and assisting our surrogate clients in establishing the intended parents’ rights.