Individual Insurance with IVF Coverage?

[Anonymous]

I'm starting a new job in DC for which I'll be considered a consultant and will therefore not be eligible for health insurance under the employer's group policy. The employer will however reimburse me for up to $12000/yr (self+spouse) in health insurance costs. I'm looking for an individual/family plan that provides at least some coverage for IVF treatment + drugs. Is anyone aware of one? I've tried researching this online, but none of the insurance companies seem to post the detailed coverage certificates online. My next step is to start calling around, but if anyone has a suggestion about where to start, it would be much appreciated!

[Anonymous]

I can tell you that BCBS individual plans (as well as their private employer plans) do not cover infertility treatments.

You might try looking at Aetna or Kaiser.

[Anonymous]

If you live in MD, there is an IF insurance mandate, so individual coverage should include IVF. have you arleady been treated for IF? If so, you'll need to be careful about pre-existing condition exclusions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in MD, there is an IF insurance mandate, so individual coverage should include IVF. have you arleady been treated for IF? If so, you'll need to be careful about pre-existing condition exclusions.

Individual policies and policies provided by companies with less than 50 employees are exempt from the Maryland insurance mandate.
OP, honestly I think you will be out of luck. I've never heard of an individual policy covering IVF.

[Anonymous]

If such policies existed, then the insurance companies would be bankrupt and that's not gonna happen. Insurance companies create policies to spread the "risk" or high cost items across a population and, for most companies, employees seeking IF treatment are a small % of their population. If an insurance company offered IF as part of individual policies, anyone who didn't have IF coverage through their employer would sign on for that policy and there would not be a way to spread the risk across a larger population. The insurance company isn't going to eat up those costs (or they would go bankrupt), so the only other option is to pass the costs along to the insured in the form of higher premiums that equal the cost of the treatments. People who don't need IF treatments will not want to pay higher premiums for coverage they don't need, so the insurance companies don't offer them and we are left to pay the astronomical costs out of our own pockets.