Health Insurance: Frequently asked questions

Is my employer required to cover my infertility treatments? If not, how do I find an insurance company in my state that will?

Whether or not your employer must cover the costs of the diagnosis and treatment of your infertility depends on your state's insurance laws.

Some states mandate that health insurance plans provide infertility coverage, while other states say they must simply offer it to the plan buyer. That's a subtle but important distinction, not just a matter of semantics. A mandate to offer coverage means that employers get to choose whether they want to buy that coverage from the insurance company for extra money.

To find out what your state mandates, see our Health Insurance Laws and Benefits Tool.

Unfortunately, if your employer isn't required to cover infertility treatment and doesn't offer it voluntarily, there's no easy way to find such coverage as an individual. In fact, you might not be able to find it at all. Insurers are reluctant to include infertility coverage in health plans for individuals because treatment is so expensive — upwards of $10,000 for one in-vitro fertilization attempt, for instance.

Insure.com's special report, Paying the price for infertility, examines just how complicated — and controversial — this issue is.

An advocacy group called Resolve is pushing for federal legislation that will require each state to adopt infertility treatment laws.

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