WHEN STATES REQUIRE FULLY-INSURED EMPLOYERS TO PROVIDE INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION (IVF), DO SELF-INSURED EMPLOYERS FOLLOW SUIT?

In the United States, access to fertility care is mediated by health insurance coverage, and most reproductive-age adults receive insurance from their employers. Employers can be “fully-insured” and beholden to state insurance mandates or can be “self-insured” and exempt from state insurance mandates. Thirteen states mandate that fully-insured employers provide insurance coverage for IVF(1). However, 65% of adults with employer-sponsored insurance work for self-insured employers(2). Our objective was to evaluate the fertility coverage offered by self-insured employers in those 13 states, even though they are exempt from the state mandates.