News
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It’s Not Just a Woman’s Problem
Throughout history people have thought of infertility as something that happened only to women—and if men were affected by it, it was shameful. The woman usually took the blame and was called “barren.” But a man who couldn’t father children was held to be “less of” a man.
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Did you know that the fertility rate in the U.S. is at its lowest point in more than a century?
This was revealed recently by findings from the National Center for Health Statistics[1][2]. With more professionals entering the workforce in their 20s and 30s and delaying starting their families, this decline in fertility rate will only continue.
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Coping Hints to Help You Through the Season
When you’re TTC and not having success, the last thing you may want to do is sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with a large group of relatives or go to a holiday party with people who don’t know that you’re in fertility treatment. Many people find the holidays stressful even when they’re not trying to get pregnant. Seeing other people’s babies and children can cut like a knife when you want your own so badly. When you’re in fertility treatment, well-meaning people can say things and give advice that’s …
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Is Being Covered Enough?
The vast majority of people in the U.S. live in states which do not mandate insurance coverage for fertility treatment. Only 16 states have infertility insurance coverage laws. And what insurance is required to cover varies greatly from state to state. In fact, only eight states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) require coverage of IVF treatment, and some of them have significant …
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Health Insurance May Not Cover the Cost
When young people have cancer, their family’s primary focus is to get the treatment they need to save their lives. That’s the first priority for any cancer patient. But for people who have not had children, there’s another urgent concern—preserving their fertility, so they can have a family in the future. And most states do not require health insurance to cover the cost of fertility preservation. Only about 5 percent of new cancer diagnoses happen in young people …
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Infertility is a common problem in the U.S. About 10 percent of women ages 15-44 (6.1 million) have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant to deliver a healthy baby, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And it’s not just a woman’s issue, and it’s not in her head. One third of infertility cases are caused by women’s physiological problems, one third by men’s physiological problems, and 10 percent or more by a combination of men’s and women’s. The causes in the remaining …
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Help Online, In Person, and On the Phone
If you’re struggling with infertility, you know how emotional the journey can be. The ups and downs of fertility treatment, the excitement of taking steps to have a baby, the sadness and even grief if your efforts aren’t immediately successful—many patients describe it as an emotional roller-coaster ride. Infertility can strain your relationship with your partner and make you feel lonely. When your friends are having babies and you’re having trouble TTC, the pain can be hard to bear. But you can find support …
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With 66 percent of employers projected to offer fertility benefits in 2019, more and more of them are trying to determine the best way to offer these benefits. Do you just increase insurance coverage and set limits on the number of IVF cycles, or impose a lifetime cap? Or do you get managed benefits with clinical expertise to guide your employees through the process? A managed program, like the program offered by WINFertility, connects employees with fertility experts, helping …
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Pros and Cons of Oocyte Cryopreservation
Since egg freezing became a viable reproductive technology, fertility preservation has been a concern for cancer patients, women in their late 30s, and women with a family history of early menopause. In recent years many high-tech companies have offered egg freezing as a benefit to their employees, so they can concentrate on their careers and not worry about having a baby until later. Increasingly, egg freezing clinics are popping up around the country, targeting millennial women with advertising and information …
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Asking for Fertility Benefits
Most large employers have open enrollment for their health insurance plans in the fall each year, so their employees can select the type of plan and coverage they want for the coming year. If you’re thinking about getting pregnant next year or actively trying to conceive (TTC), open enrollment is a good time to investigate your company’s coverage of fertility treatment. And if they don’t cover fertility treatment, you can start building a case to get fertility benefits.