By Guy Page
A new Senate bill would require Vermont health insurers to provide coverage for fertility medications and services to both transgender and non-transgender insureds.
S191 also would direct the Agency of Human Services to seek federal approval for Medicaid coverage of the same fertility procedures.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Ruth Hardy (D-Addison), Andrew Perchlik (D/P Washington), and Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Chittenden).
The bill would required both private health insurers and Medicaid to provide to male and female insureds, “regardless of whether an insured is cisgender or transgender,” the following fertility-related services:
- Fertility diagnostic testing.
- Intrauterine insemination treatment with donor or partner semen.
- At least three rounds of in vitro fertilization (IVF) with donor or partner semen or egg, including appropriate medications for ovarian stimulation, retrieval of oocytes under anesthesia, embryo transfer, and IVF14 related laboratory procedures, ultrasounds, and hormones. A health insurance plan may, but shall not be required to, provide coverage for preimplantation genetic testing as a component of IVF.
- Clinically appropriate fertility-related medications as ordered or prescribed by the insured’s treating health care providers.
Furthermore, the bill would prevent insurers from offering these services at a financial premium: “A health insurance plan shall not establish any rate, term, or condition that places a greater financial burden on an insured for access to fertility-related services than for access to treatment for any other health condition.”
The bill does not have any age limitations.