The Council also considered SB 1183 in light of serious concerns about the cumulative impact which mandates have on the costs of health care. While mandated benefits provide people with health insurance more health care options, they also play a role in fewer Pennsylvanians being insured. We conclude that mandating insurance coverage of costly treatments which benefit comparatively few Pennsylvania residents is not a cost effective means of utilizing limited health care resources. With many health care needs not covered and with 12 percent of the adult population in Pennsylvania without even basic coverage, there is no persuasive reason to give infertility treatment special priority under law. While infertility has a significant emotional impact upon patients and is a medical condition for which treatments are available, infertility is not a life-threatening medical condition.
Infertility treatments are costly.
The costs associated with infertility treatment are likely to continue to rise as more technologically advanced treatments are developed. These undeveloped treatments would be covered by this open-ended legislation though their cost is not yet known. Given the high costs, the success rate is open to concern. In Massachusetts, where infertility benefits are mandated, the rate of assisted reproductive technology utilization is about five times higher than in Pennsylvania. The experience in Massachusetts suggests that infertility mandates could result in a significant increase in the use of fertility services, raising the costs substantially.