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Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, Answers Questions on the Affordable Care Act

I got a chance this morning to sit down with Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, and chat one-on-one about the Affordable Care Act.

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You can read the whole post on BlogHer.

But of course I wanted to talk to her about infertility. The Affordable Care Act touches many facets of reproductive health — from birth control coverage to pregnancy visits. Ensuring a healthy, well-timed pregnancy is a priority of the new plan. The one aspect of reproductive health missing from the conversation is infertility, a disease that affects 7.3 million Americans or 12.5% of the child-bearing age population.

With such an emphasis on preventative services, and mandatory coverage of infertility could mean also setting regulations that in turn help reduce the premature birth rate, why is infertility missing from a plan that covers everything from preventing pregnancy to protecting the health of pregnant women and unborn babies?

Secretary Sebelius pointed out that the conversation is far from over, and there is room to bring infertility into the health care system in the future.

Infertility is a huge health issue and lots of couples are dealing with it. One of the discussions was what should be included in an insurance policy. There are 10 categories of services that have to be in every policy, essential benefits. And then rather than people in Washington picking and choosing what should go in a California policy or what should be in a Connecticut policy, we allowed the state market and the debate that had often taken place at the state level around state mandates to guide what was available in that marketplace … The first two years that the market is up and running, this discussion will go on about whether or not there should be some more uniform coverage across-the-board. But at least to get started, it was thought to be better to capture the state structure.

So not off the table, but perhaps we all need to shout a little louder that mandated coverage should be included in future incarnations.

3 comments

1 Kasey { 07.25.13 at 8:04 pm }

I really feel so blessed that my insurance covers IF. I don’t know what I would do if it didn’t.

Everyone should be afforded the options I am blessed with.

2 a { 07.25.13 at 10:37 pm }

Sigh – not my favorite kind of answer…

3 Sarang { 07.25.13 at 11:53 pm }

Yes, it’s time to shout a little louder. I love how Resolve lists senators’ contact info when IF legislation is coming up…but I wonder if those senators listen to my voicemails or really get the messages their aides take on their behalf. I’ve been meaning to do the annual trek to DC with Resolve for years…maybe that’s where I can help shout.

Thanks for having this important conversation and keeping IF in the dialogue. Nice job!

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
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