New Jersey proposal expands infertility coverage to lesbians
TRENTON, N.J. — A federal lawsuit brought by a New Jersey lesbian couple who want to have a baby may mean insurance coverage for women who currently don’t meet the state’s definition of infertile.
Erin Krupa was denied insurance coverage for infertility treatments essentially because she failed to show she couldn’t get pregnant by having sex with a man. New Jersey law for insurance purposes defines infertility as the result of failure to conceive after a certain period of unprotected sex.
Krupa’s insurer eventually agreed to the coverage, based on her doctor’s diagnosis, and she has incurred nearly $25,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses.
But she and Marianne Krupa say in their lawsuit that they are pursuing the case as a civil rights issue — “the right of all New Jersey women who dream of becoming mothers to access the reproductive health care they need to realize that dream on an equal basis.”