Friends, if you haven’t been following our ongoing fight for IVF coverage for military families, let me catch you up — because a lot has happened.
First, I introduced legislation to expand military insurance to cover fertility treatments for service members and their dependents. As things stand, most military families don’t have access to IVF coverage — even though they’re more likely to experience infertility than civilians. The House and Senate both passed a version of this bill in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this year.
Then, Speaker Mike Johnson removed the IVF coverage provision from the NDAA — a disgrace and a complete betrayal of military families and service members who just want to build a family. (Also total hypocrisy, considering Speaker Johnson’s own staff has access to this health care coverage — but he doesn’t want our service members to have the same opportunity??)
Now, I’m introducing new legislation to right this wrong — the Bipartisan IVF for Military Families Act.
Our military families are literally leaving the military to get this coverage elsewhere. One Army wife told me that she and her husband — who served 11 deployments, survived a brain injury, and still continues to serve — even considered divorcing to get coverage in another state that would cover IVF.
Military families being forced to choose between their careers of service or their dream of building a family is just wrong.
Civilian employers are increasingly providing IVF coverage to their employers — and like I said, it’s available to every Member of Congress and their staff! — but the military is still lagging behind.
Now is their chance to catch up by passing the Bipartisan IVF for Military Families Act.
If you support IVF for military families, please add your name today to let me know!
Thanks for reading — I’ll keep you posted on the progress of this important legislation.
—Sara
