Williamstown – The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a division of the National Institutes of Health, awarded a grant of more than $152,521 to Lucie Schmidt for the project "The Effects of Infertility Insurance Mandates."
Infertility imposes health-related and financial costs on women and families and affects more than six million individuals. One in ten couples cannot conceive without medical assistance, but only 25 percent of all health plans provide coverage for infertility services.
Legislation mandating infertility coverage, already passed in 15 states, has been proposed at the federal level.
To improve understanding of the costs and benefits of mandated infertility coverage, Schmidt is analyzing the effects of these state-level mandates. She plans to examine the effects of the mandates on fertility and on types of treatment, to investigate how the mandates affect the demographics of those seeking treatment, and to analyze the costs of the mandates, as well as how these costs are distributed across society.
Schmidt is an assistant professor of economics at Williams College. Her primary research focuses on the economics of the family and on examining the costs and benefits of social insurance programs.
She has received grants from the Michigan Retirement Research Center and the Boston College Center for Retirement Research, and was awarded several fellowships while at the University of Michigan.
Her work has been published in the Journal of Public Economics and the Journal of Human Resources. She has also presented her findings on gender economics at the annual meetings of the Population Association of America, the American Economic Association, the Midwest Economic Association, and a number of colleges and universities.
Schmidt received her A.B. from Smith College and doctorate in economics from the University of Michigan.
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Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant
Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building.
"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu.
A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building.
White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.
He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns.
Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot.
A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use.
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