Have you ever looked through your health insurance policy manual (that quasi-intelligible, intentionally jargon-laiden, 300 page brick of a book) at the fertility section? Most health plans I have looked at seem to have a definite bias in that section. Instead of helping infertile couples conceive, their services focus on keeping fertile couples childless. In most health insurance plans, those covered end up paying 100% of the cost for any type of infertility treatment. However, there's exceptional coverage for abortions, birth control, contraceptions, hysterectomies, etc. Is it consumer demand in action or a blatant policy bias? I wish I had the answer, but I don't. Either way, it seems really hard to find a good health insurance for infertile couples.
Recently, the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) published medical codes for natural family planning:
- V25.04: Counseling and instruction in natural family planning to avoid pregnancy;
- V26.41: Procreative counseling and advice using natural family planning.
I wish this meant Natural Family Planning would be now included in all insurance policies. However, this is a step in the right direction, legitimating NFP as a medical option for infertile couples. It does open a small window of possibilities by providing medical codes for insurance plans. Let's see if any of them choose to provide these services. I also hope that the insurance companies patronize decent NFP counselors.
