Today I thought about how lucky I am. I thought about the house we bought last year and how we were financially able to buy the house we wanted. We had been saving the cash for a rainy day for a few years, and a house seemed like a good rainy day investment. But ever since we were diagnosed as infertile we decided that we would probably need to keep that money for future treatments or possible adoption costs instead of a house. We saved that money to spend on growing our family to three.
Luckily we didn’t need to use that rainy day money. Luckily my insurance covered the three IUIs, various diagnostic tests, surgery, and three IVFs. Luckily the third IVF worked.
I am lucky. But I shouldn’t have to be lucky, it should be the norm to have infertility diagnostic tests and treatment covered by insurance policies. Being infertile is not a choice. It’s a disease.
What I can’t get my head round is that companies who DO have coverage for infertility treatment don’t want to talk about it. I was shocked to read that when Resolve wanted to give an award to a fertility friendly company at their annual gala, the charity was turned down by eight different companies-they didn’t want to make it public. How can this be??? Infertility coverage is an amazing benefit and yet these companies didn’t want to celebrate the good they were doing for their employees. We have so far to go in making infertility coverage the norm.
I am lucky because I got my rainbow baby AND a house. Many people I have met through the IF blogging world don’t get to have both. And sadly, there are even some who don’t get either and walk away with nothing or worse, a huge debt hanging over them.
I haven’t forgotten and I’m not going to forget how lucky I am to have the benefits I have through my work. I won’t stop advocating until infertility coverage becomes the norm.
Does your company include coverage for infertility treatment? If it doesn’t you can write a letter to your HR using a template that Resolve have put together to request coverage…
The Great Pudding Club Hunt 
I had no idea companies turned down an award to keep it quiet that they offer coverage! That just makes no sense to me at all! They should be proud that they are there to support their employees, and that they offer something that so many others don’t. I swear I just don’t understand the world these days!
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I’m guessing they don’t actually want people to use it. It’s so expensive! I work for the government and half the plans cover diagnostic testing only, and half cover nothing at all. Of course, i started with a plan that covered nothing, because it never occurred to me i would need it when i signed up. As soon add i got married, i switched to my husband’s insurance because everything except IVF was covered at 50%. It’s still a lot! But luckily (i guess) we found out it was hopeless before we got as far as IVF.
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Which is silly because yes it is expensive, but so are many other diseases and ailments that are common that are expensive too! It’s insane that you have to hedge your bets when you choose your plan 😡 makes me mad and sad.
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I find it baffling that companies refuse the awards. I’m judging all of them. I’m very lucky to live in an IVF mandated state but from what I’m seeing let me rather say that I’m lucky I would at a place that falls under the mandate. In the one IVF FB group in my state there are lots of companies that don’t fall under the mandate. I think because their main office isn’t in the state? I stand to be corrected.
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