Freedom from the Financial Burden of Infertility

Posted on July 6 2011 by Alica Blakeley

Freedom from the Financial Burden of Infertility

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We’ve just celebrated July 4th, and that has me thinking about freedom. Most infertile couples in the United States are far from free.

If you have noticed, fervor around the Family Act of 2011 is heating up, and if you have not contacted your senator, it’s high time you did! That law will help free infertile couples from a financial burden by offering a tax credit against fertility treatments.

The cost of fertility treatments continues to be awful. Intrauterine insemination (IUI) costs as much as $2,500 per cycle. In vitro fertilization (IVF)? In the lofty neighborhood of $10,000. Only 15 states mandate infertility treatment health coverage.

Those Wannabe Moms and Dads will never be completely free while held by the shackles of financial hardship. Nor is anyone free when they are forced to choose between a vital expense and financial ruin.

There is an old story about a career soldier:

Do you see? Infertility is cruel enough, but these financial burdens threaten to take hope away also. How many infertile couples remain childfree after they have gone into crippling debt?

Too many to ponder.

Debt is a kind of prison as well. It follows you and stays with you for years after you escape it (in the form of poor credit ratings). It eats into your living wage and makes any dreams of a carefree retirement impossible.

This country needs to be more supportive of the infertile population and less judgmental toward it. But that will never happen until we fight for those freedoms, that acknowledgment and that self-respect.

Good luck to each of you in your fight.

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