Lack of insurance against infertility

American couples who are unable to conceive a child cannot afford the high costs of fertility treatments, and many insurance companies refuse to pay for them. In vitro fertilization costs $8000 US per attempt. In 1998, American insurance companies who previously covered advanced fertility treatments halted their coverage of these techniques, because unusually high numbers of infertile couples were purchasing their health insurance policies specifically in order to obtain fertility treatments.

6.1 million, or 10% of American women of childbearing age were infertile, as of 1998. 600,000 have tried a fertility treatment.