Insurance for infertility sought

Thursday, Oct. 30, 1997 | 9:24 a.m.

"It (infertility) cuts across all societal and racial lines, affecting roughly 15 percent of the childbearing age population," says Melanie Supersano, president of Resolve of Nevada, the local chapter of a national organization that supports and advocates for the infertile.

Supersano, of Reno, says the Nevada group will ask the 1999 Legislature to require insurance companies to include coverage for infertility in health policies.

Supersano and other advocates asked an advisory committee Tuesday to change state requirements for insurance policies starting next January. But the committee voted 5-2 against including the coverage.

The committee, which advises state Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman, said the Legislature should decide if insurance coverage should be required.

Michelle Kasajian of Incline Village told the advisory committee that she learned about five years ago she could not have children. She consulted a physician who told her she was a "perfect case" for in vitro fertilization.

But her insurance company told that would be an elective treatment. She ended up adopting a child.

Without a change in health insurance policies, Kasajian said fertilization is available only "to the wealthy." She added that 10 other states mandate this coverage.

But committee member Tom Fisher said this would be ordering a new benefit in insurance policies and added, "That's something that should be left up to the Legislature."

Supersano argued that excluding infertility treatment was unfair and discriminatory.

"No one chooses to be infertile," she said. "I represent thousands of Nevada couples who have done the right thing. We waited until we were married and educated and had established a secure home before trying to begin our families.

"We paid for health insurance that included maternity benefits only to discover we would never be able to use them unless we had treatment for infertility first."

Couples that can't have a child because one is infertile are asked why they don't adopt. But Supersano said the waiting list for a healthy baby from the state in Nevada is five to six years, and adoption agencies charge anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000.