Photo: Main: AP; inset: Shutterstock
The sky-high cost of in-vitro fertilization — from $10,000 to $25,000 per treatment cycle — would be covered by insurance under a bill introduced in Albany.
Neither ObamaCare nor state law requires insurers to pay for the treatments, in which an egg is fertilized with sperm in a lab and then transferred into the uterus.
Sponsors of the bill say the procedure is so expensive, it unfairly excludes those couples but who can’t afford it.
“If you don’t have the resources, you reach a dead end,” said state Sen. Diane Savino (D-SI), a sponsor of the measure along with Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) in the Assembly.
But the association representing New York health insurers warned, all rate payers would have to pick up the tab if the bill passes.
“New York state recognized that IVF was an elective procedure that shouldn’t be included in every policy and have everyone pay higher premiums,” said New York Health Plan Association spokeswoman Leslie Moran. “This would be a new mandate. It goes beyond the essential benefits required under the Affordable Care Act.”
Under current law, New York requires insurers to provide coverage for some diagnostic and treatment procedures to cover infertility treatment for women 21 to 44 — but not for IVF.
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