THE EFFECTS OF INSURANCE MANDATES ON CHOICES AND OUTCOMES IN INFERTILITY TREATMENT MARKETS

SUMMARY For the 10% to 15% of American married couples who experience reproductive problems, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is the leading technologically advanced treatment procedure. However, IVF's expense may prevent many couples from receiving treatment, and those who are treated may take an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health economics 2012-08, Vol.21 (8), p.994-1016
Main Authors: Hamilton, Barton H., McManus, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aggression
Embryo Transfer - statistics & numerical data
Female
Fertilization in Vitro - statistics & numerical data
Government Regulation
Health care access
Health care policy
Health economics
Health Policy
Health Services Accessibility - legislation & jurisprudence
Humans
In vitro fertilization
in vitro fertilization (IVF)
Infertility
Insurance
insurance mandates
Insurance, Health - legislation & jurisprudence
Mandatory Programs
Markets
Married couples
Multiple Birth Offspring - statistics & numerical data
Multiple births
Reproductive Techniques, Assisted - statistics & numerical data
Socioeconomic Factors
State Government
Studies
United States
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Summary:SUMMARY For the 10% to 15% of American married couples who experience reproductive problems, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is the leading technologically advanced treatment procedure. However, IVF's expense may prevent many couples from receiving treatment, and those who are treated may take an overly aggressive approach to reduce the probability of failure. Aggressive treatment, which occurs through an increase in the number of embryos transferred during IVF, can lead to medically dangerous multiple births. We evaluated the principle policy proposal—insurance mandates—for improving IVF access and outcomes. We used data from US markets during 1995–2003 to show that broad insurance mandates for IVF result in not only large increases in treatment access but also significantly less aggressive treatment. More limited insurance mandates, which may apply to a subset of insurers or provide weaker guidelines for insurer behavior, generally have little effect on IVF markets. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1057-9230
1099-1050
DOI:10.1002/hec.1776