[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 114 (Thursday, August 5, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1749-E1750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FAMILY BUILDING ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ANTHONY D. WEINER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 4, 1999

  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced the Family Building Act 
of 1999.
  This legislation will assure the millions of Americans suffering from 
the disease of infertility that the treatments they so desperately need 
will be covered by their health insurance plans.
  There is nothing more basic to human beings than the desire to have a 
family. Yet, more than 6 million American families will suffer from 
infertility at some point in their reproductive lives. However, fewer 
than 1 in 4 employer-based insurance plans include coverage for 
infertility.
  Imagine being given the devastating news that you have a fertility 
problem. Fortunately, your physician confidently informs you that the 
majority of couples who seek treatment for their infertility are able 
to have a baby. So you leave the office feeling hopeful if not 
optimistic. Then news even more devastating than your diagnosis comes 
your way: your health plan has decided that infertility is a disease 
they don't think worthy of covering. Their profits mean more than your 
inability to have a family.
  It's unfair, and it happens too often in this country.
  As fewer and fewer of our citizens are allowed any meaningful choice 
in health plans, Americans are being denied access to medical 
treatments that provide them with their only hope of becoming a parent. 
This is unfair, and the Family Building Act of 1999 will put a stop to 
it.
  The insurance industry may claim that providing infertility coverage 
will cost them so

[[Page E1750]]

much money that they will either go out of business or that employers 
will not be able to provide any coverage at all. This is not the case.
  Studies completed by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine 
have shown that providing comprehensive infertility coverage will add 
only three dollars per member per year. Thirteen states have already 
passed similar legislation and it has not driven the insurance 
companies out of business, nor has it caused employers to drop their 
health insurance. In fact, in Massachusetts a study shows that the cost 
for HMOs actually went down when they started providing coverage.
  Insurance coverage for infertility also allows for better medicine. 
We have all heard about and been concerned with the rising number of 
triplets, quadruplets and even higher numbers of multiple births from 
fertility treatments. Proper insurance coverage will allow patients and 
their physicians to pursue conservative, medically appropriate 
treatments and lower the risk of multiple births.
  Consider: just three dollars a year could allow thousands of 
Americans to become parents. I think it's worth it, the American people 
think it's worth it and I hope this House will show it thinks it's 
worth it by passing the Family Building Act of 1999.

                          ____________________