Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 10 april 2017

American Living:
Hawaii LGBT couples seek equal access to fertility treatment

CATHY BUSSEWITZ ing coverage of additional
Associated Press procedures would raise
HONOLULU (AP) — Sean costs for the company and
Smith and his husband paid its customers.
more than $20,000 for a fer- A similar measure in Hawaii
tility procedure when they failed in previous legislative
decided to have a child sessions.
using a surrogate mother. But aside from Kaiser, the
They did not know at the bill has seen little opposi-
time that if they were a tion this year.
heterosexual couple, they A broad coalition includ-
might have saved that ing the American Civil Lib-
money. erties Union of Hawaii, the
Now, Smith and other Hawaii Civil Rights Commis-
members of Hawaii’s les- sion and the Democratic
bian, gay, bisexual and Party of Hawaii are working
transgender community with LGBT groups to push
are lobbying for equal ac- for change. The proposal
cess to the financial help passed the state Senate
married, heterosexual cou- and is up for a vote in the
ples enjoy under state law. House this week.
They are pushing legislation In this Friday, April 7, 2017, photo, provided by Sean Smith, Smith, left, and Kale Taylor, right, pose Maryland had a law that
that would require insur- for a photo with their son, Charlie Taylor, while on vacation in St. Louis. Smith and Taylor paid more also excluded same-sex
ance companies to cover than $20,000 in Hawaii for a fertility procedure when they decided to have a child using a sur- couples until about a year
in vitro fertilization for more rogate mother. They did not know at the time that if they were a heterosexual couple, they might ago, when the Legislature
couples, including making have saved that money. Now, Smith and other members of Hawaii’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and changed the provision so it
Hawaii the first state to re- transgender community are lobbying for equal access to the financial help married, heterosexual no longer required using a
couples enjoy under state law.
quire the coverage for sur- (Courtesy of Sean Smith via AP) husband’s sperm.
rogates, which would help That helped lesbian cou-
male same-sex couples woman, combines them is picking up the tab,” Smith breaking,” Collura said. ples, but gay men were still
who must use a surrogate. with sperm from a man and said. “We had to borrow “And it’s an often-over- left out because the law
“Now that marriage equal- then implants an embryo money, refinance a sec- looked way that people didn’t cover surrogates,
ity is the law of the land into a woman’s uterus. ond mortgage, and I’m choose to build their fam- Collura said.
and is accepted, now let’s But Hawaii’s mandate sure there are people who ily, and it should not be left Most state mandates limit
turn to family building, and applies only to married don’t even explore the op- out. It’s great to see that insurance reimbursement
let’s figure out how we fix heterosexual couples be- tion because the expenses Hawaii is taking the lead.” to a certain number of in
all these inequities that ex- cause it covers the medi- are too great.” Kaiser Permanente Hawaii vitro fertilization trials or al-
ist,” said Barbara Collura, cal intervention only if a The measure pending in opposed the measure, low coverage only after
president and CEO of Re- woman uses sperm from the Hawaii Legislature re- saying the medical pro- years of infertility. Some
solve, a national organiza- her spouse, leaving the moves requirements that vider and insurer does not states also allow religious or
tion that advocates for ac- LGBT community and single the egg and sperm come perform in vitro fertilization small employers to get out
cess to fertility treatments. women behind. from a married couple and with donor eggs or surro- of the requirement.
Hawaii is one of eight “At the end of the visit, I includes surrogates among gates because of complex “We need to change
states that require insur- would be going into the the people to be covered. legal issues and medical these laws,” Collura said.
ance companies to cover office and pulling out my No other state has includ- risks. The company asked “We need to update
in vitro fertilization, a costly credit card, and other ed surrogates in their laws, lawmakers to remove egg them and make them so
procedure where a doc- people are probably just Collura said. donors and surrogates that they are no longer
tor retrieves eggs from a walking out and insurance “It is definitely ground- from the bill, saying requir- discriminatory.”q