More Canadian companies are offering fertility benefits, but is it enough? 

A new survey shows more than half of Canadian employers still do not offer fertility benefits, and of those that do less than two per cent cover both drugs and treatment costs.

After more than three years of fertility treatments and a miscarriage, Kaitlin Geiger-Bardswich and her partner are excited to welcome their first child.

Her wife Katy got pregnant after undergoing an intrauterine insemination (IUI) – where the sperm is placed directly into the uterus with the help of a donor sperm. She is now due in April.

The same-sex couple from Ottawa has had to jump through several hoops and face disappointment to get to this stage.

It has also been an expensive journey, costing them close to $25,000.

“We started our first treatment in September 2020, so it’s been a very long road that was delayed because of COVID anyway,” Geiger-Bardswich, 37, told Global News.

While all of their IUI and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles have been funded by Ontario’s OHIP coverage, they have had to pay out-out-pocket for the sperm and drugs. Neither get any fertility benefits from their work.

“My employer would be very open to providing this, I think if they could,” said Geiger-Bardswich, who works for a national non-profit. “It’s more that the insurance company doesn’t.”

In Canada, like the United States, a growing number of companies are introducing or expanding fertility benefits for their employees. Canada’s five big banks are among them.