Start a family? Business benefits favor IVF over adoption

Fertility benefits are getting on the trend at blue-chip companies, with more companies offering to help with the costs of IVF and egg freezing. But in many cases, companies that offer fertility benefits don’t provide financial support to workers who want to adopt, and when they do, their adoption benefits are often much less generous.

Estimates of how many companies offer fertility or adoption benefits are unclear. Most employers give neither. But the gap is clear.

The Society for Human Resource Management estimates that as of 2018, 27% of employers offered some form of infertility coverage and 11% assistance with adoption. FertilityIQ, a website that offers courses and other family building information, regularly searches benefits information from thousands of employers. In a report released Saturday, it calculates that only one in five companies that offer fertility coverage also provide adoption assistance.

Employers who provide fertility support offer benefits averaging about $ 36,000, according to FertilityIQ. Jake Anderson-Bialis, co-founder of FertilityIQ, said the benefits for adoption rarely exceed $ 10,000, and are usually much less.

The inequality harms people who cannot or do not want to undergo fertility treatments, including women discouraged by too many miscarriages and those who are attracted to adopting a child who does not have a home. For gay men, fertility benefits are essentially useless without a surrogate, and using them can easily cost $ 100,000 or more.

“It’s not like a company’s job is to support children who need to be adopted,” said Adam Pertman, CEO of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency, a research and advocacy group. “But if they leveled the playing field in supporting employees no matter how they start their families, it would have a huge social impact.”

For Mrs. Mahalchick, the two years she spent on fertility treatment were miserable. The IVF hormones made her sick. She suffered multiple miscarriages. She and her husband spent about $ 10,000 on their share of the treatments. They stopped in January 2020.

They are now pursuing adoption and wish they had started sooner. “It’s stressful enough when you get older,” said Ms. Mahalchick, who lives in the Northeast. “But adoption is treated as if it were a luxury.”

Adoption and fertility treatments are out of reach for many families. Adopting a child can easily cost $ 50,000 or more. (The exception is adoption from foster care, where the financial costs are usually minimal.) A single round of IVF can cost $ 20,000 or more, and many women require multiple rounds.

Lauren Serianni of Tampa, Florida, said she was discouraged that her husband’s employer was willing to pay the bill for three cycles of IVF, a benefit that is easily worth $ 60,000 but would pay only $ 3,000 for adoption. She and her husband spent more than ten times that amount to adopt their daughter, who is now a year old.

“Any way you start a family is wonderful,” said Mrs. Serianni. ‘It shouldn’t be,’ If it’s not genetically yours, we won’t pay for it. ‘

In 2018, approximately 80,000 children were born in the US using IVF and other fertility treatments, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, Americans adopted about 85,000 children with whom they were not related, according to the National Council For Adoption, an advocacy group.

Companies that have introduced generous fertility benefits often say they are responding to employee demand. IVF and egg freezing have become part of the white collar zeitgeist in a way that adoption hasn’t.

Employers may also have logistical and financial reasons for providing fertility support that does not apply to adoption.

Fertility coverage, if offered, is usually provided on a health insurance basis, meaning coverage may be subject to regulation. At least 17 states have passed laws requiring some insurers to cover or at least provide coverage for certain infertility treatments.

Some companies have decided that it is cheaper to pay for fertility treatments for employees than to let employees perform them alone, since employers can end up paying much of the related costs anyway. For example, if an employer pays the bill for IVF, he can specify that doctors implant only one embryo at a time.

That reduces the chances of twins or triplets, where pregnancy and delivery are often complicated and expensive. A 2013 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that giving birth and caring for a loner baby costs about $ 20,000 for insurers and patients. Gemini costs $ 100,000; triplets, $ 400,000.

Taxes related to adoption can complicate matters. For example, both an employer and an employee can get a tax break if an employee sets aside wages for health care or childcare, but they don’t get the same interruption as an employee sets wages aside for adoption costs, Mary Hevener said. , an attorney who is a compensation specialist with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

A few years ago, Morgan Lewis offered free assistance to corporate clients who might be interested in expanding their compensation plans to allow employees to set aside pre-tax wages for adoption.

“We promoted all the numbers: ‘Look at all the kids in foster homes, look at all the staff you could help out,” said Ms. Hevener. And what we heard was, ‘Uh, I guess. ‘

Anita Jennison, an adoptee herself, had wanted to adopt for a long time. In 2019, she joined lifestyle brand Goop in California and found that the company would reimburse employees up to $ 60,000 in adoption costs through Carrot Fertility, a benefit provider.

Ms. Jennison estimates she spent nearly $ 80,000 adopting her daughter, who is now one year old. She would much rather have saved up for her daughter’s education. She has since left Goop, but is grateful for her financial support. She knows at least half a dozen families who are desperate to adopt but can’t afford it.

Before joining Goop, Ms. Jennison thought her path to motherhood was closed. “I never expected this to happen,” she said. “This is a godsend, because no one is offering this.”

Write to Christina Rexrode at [email protected]