Good News for a Change

In mid-August, I posted an article on the IVF That Facebook page about the Colorado Building Families Act. At the time, I was unaware the reason our IVF cycle hadn’t been covered in 2022 was because there were some issues with the legislation involving defrayal and the Affordable Health Care Act. 

Read more: Good News for a Change

I really couldn’t even begin to explain what those issues were, but the article was nonetheless exciting because the Colorado Congress shored up the act so it could go into effect in 2023. 

The new and improved law, HB22-1008, “requires large group plans under Colorado law to provide coverage for fertility diagnosis, preservation for cancer patients, and others at risk of medically-induced fertility, and treatment, including up to three rounds of IVF and unlimited transfers, for plans initiated in 2023 or later.”

Given our last experience thinking IVF would be covered, I wasn’t going to hold my breath until I went through open enrollment with my work. It was difficult to find the information, and I wouldn’t have found it had I not reached out to our Benefits division, but IVF will be covered in 2023. 

That’s HUGE!

I will still need to pay full price for the medication, which definitely isn’t cheap, but it’s a fraction of the full cost of an IVF cycle.

In our 2022 cycle, the total cost of medication was close to $5,000. It will likely be a bit more in 2023 with the addition of Growth Hormone. However, my copay for one cycle will be $300. Up to three egg retrievals and an unlimited number of embryo transfers are covered.

I honestly don’t know 100% what this will look like in 2023, and I still have some questions. Is embryology considered part of the “egg retrieval” that’s covered? What about the procedures after embryology?

What does seem clear, though, is a second cycle, potentially more, seems much more attainable now.