Infertility is a disease that imposes health-related and financial costs on women and families. It currently affects over 6 million individuals, and one in ten couples cannot conceive without medical assistance. However, only 25 percent of all health plan sponsors provide coverage for infertility services. In response to the perceived need for coverage, legislation was introduced at the federal level in 2003 that would require health plans to provide infertility benefits, and as the fraction of the population affected by infertility continues to rise, there are likely to be continued efforts to legislate mandated coverage. Understanding the implications of coverage expansion thus becomes increasingly important. As of 2003, fifteen states have enacted some form of infertility insurance mandate. These states will provide useful information on how expanding coverage affects access to services and birthrates, as well as on how the costs of coverage are distributed across individuals and society. To improve our understanding of the benefits and costs of mandated infertility coverage, the proposed research will analyze the effects of these state-level mandates, with three specific aims. First, I will examine the constraints on treatment that are currently placed on families suffering from infertility in states where insurance coverage is not mandated. Second, I will examine how the implementation of state mandates affects the number and demographic composition of those individuals who seek treatment, as well as how the mandates affect birth rates. Third, I will estimate the costs imposed by the state mandates, and analyze how those costs are distributed across different segments of society.
| Bitler, Marianne P; Schmidt, Lucie (2012) Utilization of infertility treatments: the effects of insurance mandates. Demography 49:125-49 |
| Schmidt, Lucie (2007) Effects of infertility insurance mandates on fertility. J Health Econ 26:431-46 |
| Bitler, Marianne; Schmidt, Lucie (2006) Health disparities and infertility: impacts of state-level insurance mandates. Fertil Steril 85:858-65 |
