Iowa: Say Yes to Cancer Survivors

Iowa Senate Health Insurance Chair Mark Costello and Representative Insurance Committee Chair Joel Fry,

“Yes to Cancer Survivors” by making sure medical insurance covers fertility preservation prior to cancer treatment for certain types of chemotherapy can cause permanent infertility. Currently, insurance covers the procedure after a person becomes infertile but that is too late.

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Hartford, Connecticut

To: Iowa Senate Health Insurance Chair Mark Costello and Representative Insurance Committee Chair Joel Fry,
From: [Your Name]

Dear Delaware Senate Health Insurance Chair Trey Charles Paradee and Representative Insurance Committee Chair William Bush,

Chemotherapy creates a lasting impact that most people do not think about. It has the potential to harm both the patient’s reproductive organs and damage cells. The damage that is done from chemotherapy makes it difficult to conceive and may result in miscarriages.

Preserving fertility is possible with treatments such as freezing reproductive cells for the future. Once chemotherapy damage the reproductive organs insurance covers the cost of the procedure. We are asking legislators to change legislation to have insurance to cover the cost prior to damage being done.

Due to the lack of health insurance coverage, many survivors are not offered this treatment. Egg and embryo freezing are not covered by most health insurance and patients who wish to have this treatment must pay out of pocket. Without the money, many face the risk of not being able to have children and become permanently infertile.

Without the coverage, damage caused by chemotherapy leaves many women and men infertile for the rest of their lives. Fertility legislative action is needed to provide victims of cancer with the insurance coverage necessary to give them the opportunity to have children.

I urge you to introduce legislation and say “Yes to cancer survivors” by making sure medical insurance covers fertility preservation prior to cancer treatment.