Episode 101: Fighting for Fertility Coverage: State Mandate in Colorado

It’s National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW), and Progyny is hosting a six-part series of back-to-back episodes featuring several experts who are fighting for fertility coverage. Our goal is to educate others on how they can advocate for themselves and ask for the support that’s needed from their employer or state to build the family of their dreams. 

In this episode, you’ll hear from Christina Yannetsos, a key advocate for the expansion of fertility coverage in Colorado. Christina is a fighter in every sense of the word, competing in Judo at an Olympic level, putting her energy towards injured athletes, then lobbying for fertility warriors like herself. Since she made such an impact on families in Colorado, you’d think she would have coverage for her own fertility healthcare, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Although she made progress on the state level, her employer is self-insured, so the state mandates don’t apply.  

As you can see, there is still much more work to be done! Christina is still working hard with RESOLVE and the Colorado Fertility Advocates to continue to make a difference. Tune in to learn how you can advocate for coverage in your state.  

Guest: Christina Yannetsos, Colorado Fertility Advocates, Emergency Physician, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Forensic Examiner Program.  

Host: Dan Bulger 

See RESOLVE’s website for fertility advocacy resources in your state and Progyny’s Talk to HR page for assistance in requesting coverage from your employer. 

For more information, visit Progyny’s Podcast page and Progyny’s Education page for more resources.  

Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility.     

Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at thisisinfertility@progyny.com.  

Here are some highlights from this episode: 

United in the Same Cause
8:16 – 9:33 

Dan Bulger: At the beginning, Christina mentioned that she’s on the board of the Colorado Fertility Advocates – that’s coming. That’s different than Colorado Fertility Advocacy, which is the organization Christina started. 

Christina Yannetsos: I was trying to unite a number of fertility patients going through similar journeys, but they also wanted to make a change for others. So at that point, I started reaching out to Fertility Within Reach and RESOLVE and a number of the states who had passed laws recently who all who were in the process to kind of figure out what they had done and what those next steps were. And in reviewing a number of bills, I kind of built an online presence at that point, uniting like different people from different backgrounds. And it was at that point that there was another group also forming. Colorado Fertility Advocates, who are kind of in the process of the same thing. Our group was formed initially by attorneys and military advocates and different agencies who are either services or donor based. We all united together and started coming up with a plan. 

Coverage Creates Better Decision Making
17:43– 18:49 

Christina Yannetsos: The thing about having fertility coverage is that there’s been data and literature to suggest it’s better medicine. So patients will go undergo multiple IUIs, or Intrauterine Inseminations, and it’s much less successful than IVF, in general. And then a lot of patients because they are choosing to pay out of pocket or not choosing because they’re forced to pay out of pocket, they go about doing things that aren’t necessarily the safest practices. For example, some patients choose to transfer two embryos versus one, which, you know, a twin pregnancy can increase your rates of preterm labor, NICU stays, etc. And it can also have increased risk to mom and baby. So, it’s not the best when it comes down to whether you’re paying for yourself out of pocket, or whether it’s insurance related. And it has been shown that making sure that there is insurance coverage can improve patient and baby outcomes.