Fertility care still out of reach for many despite help

Jessica Tincopa may leave the photography business she spent 14 years building for one reason: to find coverage for fertility treatment.

After six miscarriages, Tincopa and her husband started saving for in vitro fertilization, which can cost well over $20,000. But the pandemic wiped out their savings, and they can't find coverage for IVF on their state's health insurance marketplace. So, the California couple is saving again, and asking politicians to help expand access.

“No one should ever have to go through this,” Tincopa said.

Infertility, or the inability to get pregnant after a year or more of trying, is a common problem. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that it affects nearly one in five married girls or women between the ages of 15 and 49.

Yet coverage of fertility treatments can be hard to find in many corners of health insurance even as it grows briskly with big employers who see it as a must-have benefit to keep workers.

It's a divide researchers say is leading to haves and have nots for treatments, which can involve a range of prescription drugs and procedures like artificial insemination or IVF, where an embryo is created by mixing eggs and sperm in a lab dish.

“It is still primarily for people who can afford to pay quite a bit out of pocket,” said Usha Ranji, associate director of women’s health policy at KFF, a nonprofit that studies health care issues.

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