This past Monday, Governor Bruce Rauner passed a bill (House Bill 2617) that will require health insurance companies in Illinois to cover the preservation of eggs, sperm and embryos for patients with cancer and certain other diseases.
In my years of practicing medicine, there have been many evolutionary advances, which have enhanced patient care; none more important than the birth of the first IVF baby in July, 1978. In addition, there have been seminal events that have transpired to aid our patients in their quest to conceive. For example, in our state, the Illinois Family Building Act of 1991 mandated fertility coverage for our patients. Monday’s groundbreaking event marks yet another occurred.
In my role as consulting reproductive endocrinologist of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital’s Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Transplantation (HPCT) program, I’ve had the great honor to provide egg cryopreservation services to patients newly diagnosed with various forms of cancer. At a time when patients are wrapping their heads around a new found diagnosis, deciding on medical or surgical treatment, the thought of fertility cryopreservation, which must be completed within weeks of their diagnosis, adds yet another burden to this very daunting and difficult time. Add to this, considering payment for services, even though markedly reduced, makes the situation even more problematic. With the implementation of this bill, we can take the concern of cost off of the patient’s very full plate and provide the most advanced care as possible to enable their future miracle.
This bill includes the following passage:
“Amends the Illinois Insurance Code to provide that a policy of accident or health insurance shall provide coverage for medically necessary expenses for standard fertility preservation services when a necessary medical treatment may directly or indirectly cause iatrogenic infertility to an enrollee. Defines ‘iatrogenic infertility’.”
In my interpretation of the above, it would appear that patients will now have insurance coverage for egg freezing when there is potential impact of ovarian function secondary to ovarian cysts, especially cysts of endometriosis (endometriomas) or the resultant necessary surgery.
I salute our state legislature and the governor for passing and signing this bill. I congratulate the patient and patient advocacy groups for their efforts in raising the consciousness of our state government. It is truly inspiring.