There are a lot of serious, scary things happening right now – but I’m happy to have some good news to share today.

 

Last week, we secured a huge win in our fight to expand TRICARE coverage of IVF for all service members and their dependents! 

 

About a quarter of active-duty service members and military spouses report infertility (which makes sense given deployments, stress, and hazardous conditions) – and yet, TRICARE doesn’t automatically cover IVF.

 

That leaves our service members with limited options: beat the odds and prove their infertility is directly related to their service, pay tens of thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for a chance at a family, forgo having children, or leave the military. These options are unacceptable for those who bravely wear our country’s uniform, especially because Members of Congress and our staff got access to this exact same coverage earlier this year. 

 

That’s why I introduced an amendment to the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – a big defense bill that we have to pass every year – to expand TRICARE coverage of IVF and other fertility treatments to all service members and their dependents. And I’m so happy to share that it passed through the House Armed Services Committee! This is the first step to it becoming law.

 

Once passed, we hope that TRICARE coverage of IVF will pressure other private insurers to expand their coverage of IVF too. Everyone deserves the chance to build the family they want. 

 

So, what comes next? 

 

In addition to my House amendment, Senator Duckworth secured a similar amendment in the Senate version of NDAA. This is great news because it means our IVF measure has a real shot of making it into the final NDAA, which will be voted on by the full House and Senate. 

 

However, the fight is not over! We got this far last year, only to have Speaker Johnson take this IVF measure out of the final NDAA version. This year, we are keeping ALL EYES on this amendment and need to keep up the pressure to ensure this measure makes it to a full vote on the House and Senate floors.

 

Here’s what I need from you: share your story of how expanded coverage of IVF and fertility treatments would impact you – online, over the phone, and in person. Let’s get this over the finish line.