Illinois companies please?

[lleva99]

Does anyone know of any insurance companies that cover infertility in Illinois? My dh & I adopted our daughter who is now 2 months, we are considering asking the birth mom if later on down the road she would consider being an egg donor. That way Emma would have bio siblings, our other children would be genitically related to my dh and I would get to experience the joy of pregnancy. A perfect outcome for everyone involved-I know that our bm would love to do it for us and would definately love the financial compensation aspect. So we would like to find out about companies in Illinois that cover IVF and such. Thanks for your time and input!

Lleva99 me 23 dh 28
mommy to Emma Suzanne Brooke - 9/04/04 through domestic/open/private adoption
mommy to Spencer & Savanna-Yorkshire Terriers

[slthaughton]

IL is a mandate to cover state, they are required by law to cover fertility treatments. I know BCBS covers there. I have been researching because I am considering moving to one of the 13 states that have this mandate to cover. Are you saying your present insurance says they do not cover anything? I also wanted to mention that some companies because they have a division in a mandate to cover state doesn't mean that the company covers ivf in every state. Also every insurance doesn't cover it either, it's more of a state thing then anything else. I have BCBS but they don't cover it under mine in TX. Get it? Hope I didn't confuse you!!!
Sherri

[Katiebugs mom]

Hello, I am new here so bear with me. Illinois is a mandate state but as I have recently found out there are many exclusions to the mandate. If the policy is written outside of IL they are only required to pay if you have an HMO. You may want to check with your insurance company and then with the state to be sure. I was denied under those conditions. I did file an appeal and the ins co. sent us a letter saying they had overturned their original decision and that they would now allow the treatment then when I called to verify the auth they turned around and claimed the appeal had been denied. Two days later I received a retraction letter stating that they would not cover any of my treatment. There are several restrictions to the mandate. My girlfriend is experierencing a similar situation here where her Ins is a self funded trust and they are not required to pay for her treatment.
You can find the mandate on the state website.
Good luck!

[terrah]

I live in IL and we had awesome coverage when ttc. We had Mercy Ins. I'm not 100% on this but regarding IVF I believe you had to try other things and IVF last resort or if DR says this is only way. I know with IL your company has to have so many employees (again not sure but I think it's 500, dh's has 5,000 so we didn't worry ). I have United Healthcare now and although we didn't check it out (I was pg at time of switch) I "think" it was compareable on all levels to Mercy. Of course things can always be changing with how insurance is so I'm not totally sure on current. One thing to be careful about, if you live by a bordering state (we live by MO) our insurance co. was in St. Louis and during verbal talks they would give incorrect answers because MO doesn't have the same laws as IL and we would think something was covered and they would say it wasn't, which in the end it always was but it is something to just remember to keep yours eyes open, save a headache or two (or a fit when a $3,000 bill arrives in your mail and you thought you only had to pay a $10 co-pay!!).

GOOD LUCK!!

Terrah

[kara6820]

I am also an Illinois resident and have BCBS PPO. Awesome fertility coverage. On the other hand, my husband's insurance covers nothing. I swear in the past year my BCBS PPO has paid double my actual salary - talk about great benefits!

[Katiebugs mom]

My company is getting ready to switch to BCBS but the broker was in today and said that our plan does not have a fertility rider. It all depends on what coverage the employer chooses. Our plan will be a POS plan versus an HMO or PPO and according to the IL Insurance Commission they are not required to pay for infertility. The company I work for is more concerned about the premiums than the actual coverage. I would be willing to pay more premiums for better coverage but we do not have that option. It is all very frustrating. We had excellent coverage with my previous employer but unfortunately I was let go from that position right before we were going to start the IVF process. I have a feeling that had something to do with my previous employer making the sudden decision to let me go. It was all very suspicious. Anyway what I would tell anyone to do is to check into their specific plan and contact the state before going forward with any treatment.

[leesak]

I used to work for a company that was headquartered in Virgina. We had Aetna. Aetna would pay for artificial insemination and the drugs only - NO IVF. After 6 failed attempts, I took a new job at a company based out of California and they did not cover infertility at all!

My husband works for a small (200 employee) private company, headquartered in Chicago and he and I are on the HMO. The insurance company is called Great West. They used to be One Health but now they are called Great West. The benefits are fabulous. My co-pay is $20 and that is only when I get ultrasounds. When you see the Doc (such as for retrieval and transfers for IVF) there is no co-pay. The meds cost me about $150 a month. Really excellent insurance.

But obviously, like a previous poster said, there are mandates and I think one trick is to work for a company incorporated in Illinois. If the company is not incorporated in Illinois, like my 2 former employers (which were large 20,000+ companies), they do not have to provide infertility coverage or adoption benefits for that matter.

[Skidaddle]

While Illinois is a mandated state, there ARE loopholes... If a company is self-funded, they are not required to provide this coverage. The other loophole, as someone else posted, is that the company has to be incoporated in Illinois.

If you are fortunate enough to work for a company that does not manage to slip through one of these loopholes, be aware that there are qualifications and limitations to most policies. For example, my Illinois BCBS HMO requires (among other things) that we have a doctor document that we have had unprotected sex for one year with no pregnancy resulting. (Duh, I always thought.....like who would want to go through with this if they had other options?)

I have heard that Starbucks and UPS offer infertility coverage, but I do not have any details. When I was considering changing jobs to get coverage, I did a search on the web for companies which provided infertility coverage in the Chicago metro area, and I remember that I did find some listed on some message boards somewhere. However, since it was not necessary for me to pursue that option (long story) I did not do extensive research and I do not remember any of the companies that were listed.

The bottom line, I think, is that each company is different, and there really is no way to find out what you would really need to know before actually being hired. Such an awful Catch-22.

Good luck!

[stephngregg]

abbott labs
walgreen's

[barancouda]

Did I read that right? Illinois co. are mandated to cover? Does anyone one know if Amcore bank does? I am trying to get a job there, it will make it worth my while.
Thanks, Sonya