Funding fertility: expanding benefits for expanding families

(NBC News) Karolina Simmons and her husband are fighting to pay for fertility treatments.

“To this day, we’ve spent $76,000…almost $77,000 out of pocket,” Karolina says.

They’re paying out of pocket for services like in-vitro fertilization because insurance won’t.

“IVF is typically not covered by insurance, most insurance does not cover that. And almost none of the insurance companies cover egg-freezing,” notes Tammy Sun.

Sun had a near identical experience, forking over $35,000 of her own money for fertility treatments.

After the experience she founded a company called Carrot that focuses on urging employers to offer fertility benefits.

“To make it much more affordable and much easier for employees who are looking at egg-freezing, IVF, adoption, gestational carrier services or surrogacy,” she explains.

Those benefits are now being offered by some of the country’s biggest companies.

Sun says that can make a difference with prospective employees.

“More than 70 percent of both men and women say that they would consider switching jobs in order to access a fertility benefit,” she says.

Read more: https://nbcnews.to/2WmdUmc