Illinois Department of Insurance Clarifies Rules on Fertility Treatment: Lambda Legal Praises the Change

(Chicago, April 20, 2010) - After the Illinois Department of Insurance clarified its rule regarding infertility, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Christopher Clark, Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal's Midwest Regional Office:

"We applaud the Illinois Department of Insurance for clarifying its rule governing infertility coverage. The change is significant because it affects all women in the state and particularly helps close the healthcare access gap facing many lesbians in Illinois.

"Now, lesbian women and non-gay women who have the same medical condition resulting in infertility will have the same insurance coverage. Prior to this recent clarification, insurance coverage was often denied unless a woman could prove that she had unprotected heterosexual sex for a year - effectively barring coverage for lesbian women.

"Furthermore, couples for whom unprotected heterosexual intercourse is impossible, such as in cases of impotence or for same-sex couples, or inadvisable based on HIV status, will now also be covered."

Under state statute, infertility is defined as the inability to conceive through unprotected sexual intercourse. This definition was often incorrectly interpreted to preclude many women from receiving coverage for needed medical treatments. Late last year, after hearing from lesbian couples whose coverage claims were rejected, Lambda Legal worked with fertility experts and the Illinois Department of Insurance to revise the administrative regulation.

According to the Illinois Department of Insurance's March 2010 revised regulation, a woman is ensured coverage for fertility treatments when her physician determines that "medically-based and supervised methods of conception – including artificial insemination - have failed and are not likely to lead to a successful pregnancy." Women are not required to demonstrate that they have engaged in unprotected intercourse with a man in order to receive coverage. As a result, all women with the same medical needs are now treated equally.

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