Lloyd’s cover smoothes cost of fertility treatment

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, infertility affects about 7.3 million women and their partners in the US, about 12% of the reproductive-age population. And in the UK infertility is a problem for between one in six and one in seven couples.

Treatments for infertility have been improving steadily since the first babies were born using “in vitro fertilisation” (IVF) in the 1970s, and are now much more common place.

Unfortunately, fertility treatments like IVF are relatively expensive and can be very demanding on those that undergo treatment. So, Lloyd’s backed insurance provider New Life Agency, Inc. has launched the first ever IVF insurance programme to help patients save thousands of dollars on fertility treatments and medications, and take some of the stress out of treatment.

First steps

Louise Brown – the world's first IVF or “test tube” baby – was born just before midnight on July 25, 1978 in the UK. Since then there have been many improvements to the technique, whereby a human egg is fertilised outside the womb before the embryo is transferred to the mother or a surrogate. For example, the 1990s saw the development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a technique that increases the chances of success for some IVF couples by injecting the sperm directly into the egg.

The International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies estimates that some one million treatments using assisted reproductive technologies are now conducted each year, giving rise to some 200,000 births, up from 30,000 in 1989.

Fertility uncovered

In the US, the latest data from the CDC shows that IVF procedures have increased 213% from 1996 to 2006, said Trish J. Taylor, president and founder of New Life Agency, Inc. in California.

And as infertility procedures have become “main-stream” in the US the associated exposures and costs have become significant for employees, employers and major medical providers, she added.

Healthcare in the US is a mainly private sector affair, but most major medical providers exclude assisted reproductive technologies like IVF, or services associated with surrogacy, Taylor said.

Offering a chance for a new life

Specialist assisted reproduction insurance provider New Life Agency has launched the first IVF insurance programme that covers the cost of fertility treatment as a stand-alone product, or alongside existing healthcare cover.

New Life has teamed up with fertility treatment centre The Diamond Institute and Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy to offer its Assisted Reproduction Care Insurance Program(SM), which makes the costs of IVF more predictable and gives protection against unforeseen complications.

New Life has a licensed Third Party Administrator contract directly with the IVF doctors at The Diamond Institute, which it uses to offer ten doctor-recommended fertility treatment options. These allow the patient to move through their treatment fully aware of the total cost of each phase, Taylor explained.

If pregnancy is not achieved, the programme offers refunds and credits during the 18-month enrolment term.

The programme picks up the cost of treatments, testing, surgeries and services associated with fertility treatment, while insurance from Lloyd’s covers the cost of any complications, she said.

The programme also offers plan treatments under preferred provider rates, together with the patient’s traditional major medical coverage, she added.

A difficult time

Fertility treatments like IVF can be physically and financially demanding. With no guarantee of success, patients may have to undergo years of expensive successive treatment cycles.

The Assisted Reproduction Care Insurance Program offers patients suffering from infertility feasible financial solutions for the ever-rising costs of IVF treatments, procedures and fertility medications, Taylor said.

Specialist cover

Lloyd's fills the gap when there is no traditional major medical cover available. “New Life Agency exclusively serves and has developed multiple one-of-a-kind coverages for the infertility industry where risk is high and demand is great,” Taylor concluded.

www.newlifeagency.com