Melinda Henne
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
E-Mail: 
Institutional Affiliation: Stanford
NBER Working Papers and Publications
January 2007 | Mandated Health Insurance Benefits and the Utilization and Outcomes of Infertility Treatments
with M. Kate Bundorf, Laurence Baker: w12820
During the last two decades, the treatment of infertility has improved dramatically. These treatments, however, are expensive and rarely covered by insurance, leading many states to adopt regulations mandating that health insurers cover them. In this paper, we explore the effects of benefit mandates on the utilization and outcomes of infertility treatments. We find that use of infertility treatments is significantly greater in states adopting comprehensive versions of these mandates. While greater utilization had little impact on the number of deliveries, mandated coverage was associated with a relatively large increase in the probability of a multiple birth. For relatively low fertility patients who responded to the expanded insurance coverage, treatment was often unsuccessful and di... |
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