Does your insurance pay for infertility?

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catholicanne

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I work for a Catholic church and have great insurance, except today I found out that the infertility labs I have been getting lately aren’t covered by our insurance. I asked the medical billing department why and they said our church-provided insurance doesn’t cover anything having to do with infertility. Huh? I thought we were supposed to have babies… How exactly is getting blood drawn and seeing an infertility specialist against Catholic teaching? It’s not. :confused:

Has anyone else who also has church-provided insurance come across the same issue?
 
I understand not covering IVF, but why not cover lab work or things like Clomid, Femara, etc.? Very odd. Is there someone at the diocesan level who’s in charge of administering insurance and other benefits who might be able to discuss the coverage? I’ll cross my fingers for you that it’s all just a big misunderstanding!

Another possibility is that there’s a dollar limit to the amount of infertility-related treatment the insurance will cover – that’s pretty common among insurance plans, not just those from religious employers. Those of us who’ve had long journeys toward parenthood, unfortunately, might hit those limits… 😦
 
Have you considered simply appealing their decision? Send them a letter of appeal 1) citing Catholic teaching encouraging procreation, 2) asking for their support as a leader in Church teaching and 3) telling them you’re only using Church-approved methods and ask them to cover the costs of Church-approved billed services. Many times all it takes is a gentle nudge in a well written letter of appeal 🙂

This is the same as any other services not covered. Insurance companies don’t pay for everything but you have a good chance of getting things covered if you demonstrate that you’ve tried other things.
 
catholicanne said:
I work for a Catholic church and have great insurance, except today I found out that the infertility labs I have been getting lately aren’t covered by our insurance. I asked the medical billing department why and they said our church-provided insurance doesn’t cover anything having to do with infertility. Huh? I thought we were supposed to have babies… How exactly is getting blood drawn and seeing an infertility specialist against Catholic teaching? It’s not. :confused:

Has anyone else who also has church-provided insurance come across the same issue?
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There’s 2 things I’d do right away.
  1. I’m not sure whether fertility drugs are considered licit or not, but you might want to ask a priest and find out.
  2. I’d certainly also ask the insurance provider what the reason was. It may well be the cost or the medical provider for some reason.
 
It might be that the Church had a choice between covering all infertility treatments or not covering them. They may not have been able to cover just “some” treatments. So, they would have to choose no coverage since many of these treatments do violate Church teaching. Plus these elective treatments are VERY expensive, so it may have been a cost decision too.

You will have to ask your insurance administrator.

And remember, while the Church teaches that certain treatments are morally licit, the Church doe not teach we must pursue all avenues to have children. So, no, there is no obligation for the Church to provide this coverage.
 
I think you should ask for more information. Even Creighton method training could be considered treatment for intertility, depending on the situation. Obviously, many procedures are considered immoral by the Church. (ie IVF) but there are lots of treatments that are completely morally acceptable and out to be encouraged for a woman’s health. I think you should look more into it because it doesn’t seem likely to me. My husband has diocese insurance and I know it covers treatment for fertility problems.
 
I’m not sure it has anything to do with being Catholic.

My insurance (I have two carriers) both only cover IVF, because my state law REQUIRES them to. They are not required to cover any other fertility tests or treatments, and they do not. They are not through Catholic institutions. They just don’t consider it necessary I guess.

I love how insurance companies are now required to provide ABC, but not fertility treatments. I guess the government wants to support “women’s reproductive rights”, as long as it is the right to not reproduce.
 
While some tests will help determine your fertility, I don’t see how they could be classified as fertility testing only.

Testing your hormones for example. Checking your uterus for abnormalities. etc. Many problems that lend to infertility also interfere with quality of life. That’s how I would preface everything.

I will also tell you that having fertility testing is considered a pre existing condition. And can prevent you from getting insurance in the future. (unless Obama Care fixes that, which I doubt will happen) I speak from experience. I was told by one company the only way they would insure me is if I had a hysterectomy… :eek: as if that wouldn’t create a whole slew of other medical problems.

There are problems taking Drugs to increase your fertility. As they do not interfere with the sexual act at all. Pills or injections for that matter.

That line is drawn with IUI, and IVF.

And finally, most insurances don’t cover much in the way of infertility. It is an extra expense. They often will cover the testing to determine if possible what it wrong.

I used to work in this field… but it has been a while. Thing have surely changed. But that was the norm not too long ago…
 
I’ve struggled with all sorts of issues here, but most of my insurance plans covered most things, as long as the doctors coded the paperwork correctly.

For instance, my plans generally didn’t cover IVF or treatments that are solely for fertility purposes. But, they covered my lab work, testings, and my ovarian wedge resection surgery, because those were all coded as treatments for the underlying health problems that were causing the infertility.

I vividly remember getting hit with a huge bill for a panel of blood tests, when one doctor coded them wrong. :mad: When I had the same tests run a year later, with a different doctor, my insurance paid almost all of it.
 
iloveangels said:
There’s 2 things I’d do right away.
  1. I’m not sure whether fertility drugs are considered licit or not, but you might want to ask a priest and find out.
  2. I’d certainly also ask the insurance provider what the reason was. It may well be the cost or the medical provider for some reason.
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A male can inject vitamin B12 and B6 to boost his sperm count. Injecting is preferable as it bypasses the liver. So it is actually safter as well. And it’s just a shot in the shoulder or somewhere like that. My sperm count went up 300% when I did this daily (B6 less like Q3 days as it will eventually harm you, B12 will not. B6 after months of daily doeses of 3omg you will start to cause harm. They are vitamins. You can get them from canada.

Peace,
Bill
 
If I had to guess (and that’s all a random person on the internet can do), I’d say that there’s some confusion about who is providing the insurance.

While you work for a church, and the church provides insurance for you, the church is not the insurance company. I’m also guessing that the insurance company is not a Catholic company.

The insurance company offers several plans with differing coverage levels for different prices. The church decided to offer to you ones that lie within church teachings – which mean that they don’t cover IVF. The insurance company plans that don’t cover IVF may not also cover other infertility treatments as well. The church was not allowed to pick and choose coverages (lest things get too complicated for the insurance company – you think that bureaucracy and red tape is bad now?) so if they didn’t want IVF coverage, they weren’t getting other infertility treatments either.

What the insurance covers (or doesn’t cover) is not based on church teaching, but on what the insurance company can afford that that particular level of premium payment.
 
My insurance covered most of my diagnostic tests for infertility but won’t cover the treatments. I can’t believe your insurance plan won’t cover the blood tests, etc. 😦

I have a feeling this could be resolved by working with a competent doctor and lab to code the paperwork correctly. The underlying problems that cause infertility are real medical problems in and of themselves, even aside from the infertility. Try talking to your doctor about how they are billing things to the insurance. Good luck–it can be a real headache dealing with this stuff.
 
It could be some simple coding issues.

When I first started creighton method lessons, my coverage was supposed to cover it, but the way it was coded made it seem like it was artificial birth control. Obviously a lot of misunderstanding and frustrating in straightening that out.

The codes might be the issue.
 
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