Infertility Consumer Advocates Defend Honda’s Insurance Practices

Insurance in the news again...and I feel it will be for a good long time when infertility is the hot topic....but it looks like some company's are attempting to help...what do you think?

Sharon

www.InfertilityAnswers.org

Infertility Consumer Advocates Defend Honda’s Insurance Practices Infertility consumer advocates defend Honda’s insurance practices.

Publish Date: 2008-09-22

Honda may have gotten a rap they didn’t deserve. Recently criticized by the American Fertility Association for refusing to cover third party reproduction services, what was blatantly ignored was that Honda –Alabama does offer domestic partner benefits (while four other car manufacturers do not) and they provide infertility coverage for up to $30,000. “While fewer than 20% of American employers offer domestic partner insurance benefits and fewer than 10% of employers offer any infertility coverage without being mandated by state law to do so, Honda stands out as light years ahead of many of its competitors.,” explains Evelina Sterling, PhD, co-author of “Budgeting for Infretility: Bringing Home Baby without Breaking the Bank” (Simon and Schuster, 2009) and CEO of My Fertility Plan, an infertility consulting firm. “As unfortunate as it is – offering third party reproductive services is prohibitively expensive for companies – regardless of an employee’s sexual orientation. Offering basic infertility coverage to a company plan raises the cost of insurance by only a small percentage. Adding third party reproduction, which can include sperm and egg donation, and even surrogacy, can easily double the cost of a company’s policy. I don’t know of many companies who can afford to absorb that cost.” “Instead of demonizing companies trying to do the right thing, we should look at Honda as setting an example in providing equitable care for domestic partners as well as those struggling with infertility. Recent research indicates infertility has the same emotional effect as a diagnosis of cancer, and employers who care about their employers must look at ways to relive some of the burden.”