Any individual can face challenges to have a family. No matter what race, religion, sexuality or economic status you are, infertility doesn’t discriminate. The private insurance carriers are allowed to though as well as some group insurers.
The purpose of this blog is to not only honor #NationalInfertilityWeek but to spread awareness in regards to why this matters to your insurance planning.
The insurance carriers are allowed to underwrite your application based upon your pre-existing conditions and can discriminate via rate increases and/or modifying your insurance offers. They reserve the right to determine if your pre-existing conditions fall into a Morbidity and/or Mortality category of risk that requires them to charge you more to have the insurance contract active with them as the insurer. These two terms often get confused, especially between insurance different products.
Morbidity refers to disease and disability insurance carriers will not want to cover conditions that would prevent you from working if you already have that in your history. Mortality refers to death and medical history that puts you at a higher risk in that category can either cause a rating increase (a higher rate) or a decline.
I personally have had to work with specialists to determine the family planning strategy that would work for my husband and I. With the assistance of reproductive endocrinologists I had a round of IVF and one embryo transfer, due to my follicular levels and age.
So what does this have to do with insurance planning? The family planning and/or the fertility process can be extremely difficult, time consuming, financially draining and can zap your energy and mental health. By understanding what this can mean to your financial planning in the form of insurance, helps you to control what you can now at this point by knowing what to expect. *Medical history factors that can raise rates are listed below!*
As I work with clients, they report having to factor in many unknown variables in regards to their training schedules and locations based upon their match and what type of practice they expect to be working within; all of which can affect family planning. Because of these variables and long timelines in training, I see quite a mix of planning horizons.
Those of you that plan to do diagnostic testing early and go through the process of freezing eggs, may not have any modifications to an insurance offer. Those who have to jump right into the IVF process (or other methods of assistance) like I did, most likely will have a modified offer for disability or life insurance because by the time you apply, you already have an extensive medical history in this arena. We can work together to stay in front of your health history to get you the best offer that may be available for; with or without current fertility conditions.
Our team is happy to pre-screen your history, so that we can find you the best outcome possible. To speak directly about any concerns, I am happy to hold a complimentary consult and you can schedule one here. In addition, our team works directly with underwriters so as independent brokers, we can shop on your behalf for the best carriers.
Even if you don’t or haven’t had the obstacles that many have when trying to start a family, there are different situations that could still present a modification to your offers for insurance policies – see below.
For disability insurance applications, any of the histories listed below can likely cause a modification to your offer by way of an exclusion. An exclusion sits on the policy, as an amendment to the contract; specifying what is going to be “off limits” to you if you have a disabling event:
- Diagnostic Fertility Testing
- Fertility Assistance post fertility testing
- Any complications during a previous pregnancy
- Any complications during a previous delivery
- A C-Section, with or without complications
- Postpartum history including any complications and/or medications
- Excessive Weight gain
For life insurance, any of the histories listed below can likely cause an increased rate to an otherwise competitive market rate you may find when you shop online. A typical best rate is called “Preferred Plus” and those with medical history or ongoing conditions / treatments / medications could get a “Preferred or Standard” rate:
- Elevation of Lab Levels
- Gestational Diabetes
- Family History of Cancer and other Chronic Conditions
- Any pregnancy complications that present permanent risk to mortality now
- Postpartum history including any complications and/or medications
- Weight gain in General
For those of you struggling with family planning currently, I am happy to share my story with you when we meet and understand that this can be a sensitive topic. I feel that my planning journey and my experience with clients can help guide you to the proper planning process for you and your partner’s financial planning goals. Let me know how I can help!
Be gentle with yourself, you’re doing the best you can.
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