A new City Council bill would require the city’s health plan cover the cost of fertility treatments regardless of an infertility diagnosis, a move designed to level the playing field for gay male couples looking to start a family.
The move to clarify and ensure everyone has access to the benefit makes sense and is unlikely to result in a significant increase in costs: Of the $11 billion the city spends on health benefits each year, only about $50 million goes toward fertility benefits, which are utilized by about 3% of the total covered population.
LGBTQIA+ couples often struggle to obtain insurance coverage for the costly procedures required to build a family, from egg donation to in vitro fertilization, surrogacy and adoption, as Judy Messina reports this week. Only seven states, including New York, require insurance companies provide such coverage irrespective of a couple’s sex or sexual orientation. Local government employees are among those battling for equal access to fertility benefits.
NYC’s health plan covers fertility benefits including in-vitro fertilization, which fertilizes eggs in a lab, and can cost $15,000 per cycle. But the bill’s sponsor, Councilwoman Lynn Schulman, says that gay male couples can’t access the benefits because they don’t meet an outdated definition of infertility.
The insurance plan covers up to three cycles of assisted reproductive treatments, which can include IVF. But under state law mandating fertility benefits, employees are required to prove that they have a diagnosis of infertility to get that coverage, meaning that they are unable to get pregnant after a year of unprotected sex.
That definition can include heterosexual couples, same-sex female couples and single women but prevents gay male couples from qualifying for coverage, Schulman says.
The city has refuted claims that its current insurance practices are discriminatory, noting that an infertility diagnosis is not the only pathway to obtain coverage for IVF.
The Council is not the only party pushing back on the city’s coverage practices. The Adams administration also faces a class action lawsuit filed by Corey Briskin, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney, and his husband Nicholas Maggipinto, who said they were not eligible for IVF coverage because neither was diagnosed with infertility.
The city would be wise to follow the lead of many private employers in the region, and large companies in particular, that have stepped up, providing the same family-building benefits to gay couples that they offer to heterosexual employees. They see such benefits and programs as a key to recruitment, productivity and job satisfaction. It would also give the city another recruitment tool as it seeks to fill a glut of open positions.
The Editors , 2024-06-24 12:03:03
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