Michigan Congress to Consider Infertility Insurance Coverage Mandate

September 16, 2003---The proposed legislation was introduced in June, 2003 and referred to the House Insurance Committee. Supporters of this legislation must write to Representative Julian and request that he place House Bills 4893 and 4894 on the Insurance Committee agenda. Without this support, these bills may "die" without ever receiving a fair hearing and majority vote.

Insurers will argue that a mandate will cause insurance premiums to "skyrocket", however, studies conducted in the 15 mandated states prove otherwise. In Massachusetts for example, which has the most comprehensive state mandate, studies show that in 1993, infertility coverage represented only 0.4% of the total family health insurance premium. Another study showed that the yearly premium increase would be not much more than the price of a gallon of milk to cover in vitro fertilization. (See, William M. Mercer Report, 1997, stating increase in coverage would approximately be $2.50 per member per year.)

Michigan's economy is suffering without a mandate. Studies show that states without mandated coverage have the highest rates of live births of multiple infants (especially three of more). In 1992, hospital charges for the delivery of twins were 4 times as high and charges for triplets were 11 times as high as charges for a singleton delivery. Studies suggest that because patients must pay out of pocket in states without mandated coverage, physicians are under pressure to obtain a "successful" outcome the first time and therefore transfer more embryos per cycle. Mandating coverage would allow couples to make purely medical decisions and in turn lower the risk to mother and child and lower the cost to insurers.

The United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in 1998, which stated that reproduction is a major life activity under the ADA. This ruling demonstrates the importance of reproduction and the impact that infertility, in which the ability to reproduce is impaired, has on the lives of men and women. The ruling supports the need for infertility insurance coverage so that those with infertility are not unfairly discriminated against.

The Michigan Infertility Insurance Movement is a grassroots organization that has gained statewide support of its efforts to mandate infertility insurance coverage. The effort is lead by Sarah Greig of Eastpointe. Since June, over 300 signatures have been gathered in an online petition. Please visit www.infertilityinsurance4all.com for more information.




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