Letters: Insurance should cover preserving fertility for cancer patients

Hearing the words “you have cancer” is devastating. Hearing that the treatment you need to cure the cancer may render you infertile is equally devastating.

Due to amazing medical advances, most patients will be cured from cancer and go on to live a full life, though one possibly stripped of the option to build their own family. This is consistently reported to be the greatest regret and biggest anxiety of all cancer survivors.

However, today we have the option for patients to preserve their fertility by freezing eggs or sperm. While this treatment is considered the best and most effective method for patients, the opportunity to preserve fertility is still not covered by health insurance. The cost for egg freezing can reach $6,000-$10,000, which makes this procedure impossible for many patients to afford.

House Bill 186 has been introduced by state Rep. Paula Davis, a Baton Rouge Republican, to mandate insurance companies to cover this benefit. This benefit is already mandated in 11 states, with 10 other states having similar legislation under consideration this year.

As a physician, I see 3-4 patients each month with a diagnosis of cancer who will require lifesaving chemotherapy or surgery that will render them sterile. Interestingly, patients are often more upset with the loss of fertility and their chance to build a family than their diagnosis of cancer.

It is gut-wrenching to learn that such an effective and low-risk procedure allowing patients to be parents is not covered by health insurance. With passage of this bill, these patients can preserve their chance of building their family without the financial burden. 

JOHN STORMENT

Lafayette