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This story was originally published by States Newsroom.
Congress will not expand access to in vitro fertilization for active-duty military members and their families in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, the annual bill that sets policy for the Pentagon.
The House-Senate compromise released this weekend follows months of debate between the two chambers over whether to expand TRICARE’s coverage of assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF, which are currently available only to troops whose infertility is linked to a service-related illness or injury.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state said in a written statement that she was “disappointed that the final NDAA did not include the provisions I pushed for to expand IVF access to veterans and military personnel due to Republican opposition – women and men in uniform sacrifice so much for our country and should never sacrifice their right to have a family.”
“This bill was the result of tough negotiations with Republicans who pushed for all kinds of ways to limit women’s reproductive freedom — Democrats fought hard to ensure that the final NDAA excluded all kinds of harmful riders that would limit the options of women in uniform have limited. to make their own health care decisions, including traveling for life-saving abortion care,” Murray added.
The House Armed Services Committee, controlled by Republicans, and the Senate Armed Services Committee, led by Democrats, included separate but somewhat similar provisions expanding access to IVF in their original versions of the NDAA earlier this year.
The two chambers have spent the past few months working out the differences in the entire bill before announcing the final one Version of 1,813 pages Saturday.
Congress is expected to vote to approve the package in the next two weeks before both chambers leave town for the holidays.
The joint explanationreleased alongside the latest NDAA, notes that none of the IVF expansion provisions made the final cut, but doesn’t explain why.
“The House bill included a provision (sec. 701) that would provide assisted reproductive technology services to military personnel and their dependents,” it reads. “The bill reported by the Senate Committee contained a similar provision (sec. 705) that would amend Chapter 55 of Title 10, United States Code, to require fertility treatments to be covered under TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select regardless of sex, sex characteristics. , gender identity, sexual orientation, diagnosis, or marital status of a military or family member.”
A section in the original Senate bill that required the “Secretary of Defense to conduct an assessment of options for establishing within the military health care system a benefit program for in vitro fertilization and related services for members of the armed forces on active duty and their dependents” was also rejected.
Barbara Collura, president and CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Organization, said she was “very disappointed to see that expanding IVF coverage in TRICARE was not” included in the final NDAA.
“Once again, our service members will be left without basic health care for infertility, in a population that experiences higher infertility rates than the general population,” Collura said in a written statement. “We will continue to advocate for comprehensive medical treatments for infertility for our military and our veterans.”
TRICARE is the health care program “for active duty service members, active duty family members, National Guard and Reserve members and their family members, retirees and retired family members, survivors and certain former spouses worldwide.”
Access to IVF became a national issue earlier this year when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled ruled that frozen embryos were children under state law.
Although the ruling did not explicitly ban in vitro fertilization, all IVF clinics in Alabama were closed until state lawmakers passed legislation providing criminal and civil protections for those health care facilities.
Democrats in the US Senate, citing the Alabama ruling, tried to pass a bill in June to establish nationwide protections for IVF treatment, including provisions that would have expanded IVF services for military members and veterans. Republicans blocked the bill’s progress.
Senate Democrats tried to reauthorize their IVF proposals through the expedited unanimous consent process in September, but were again blocked by Republicans.
The same day, Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama tried using the same procedure to gain passage for her IVF bill, but was blocked by Democrats.
More than a dozen military and veterans organizations, including Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Gold Star Wives of America and the National Military Family Association, wrote to Congress in early October encouraged lawmakers to expand access to IVF in the final version of the annual Defense Authorization Act.
“Our nation’s military families earn their health care benefits through tremendous service and sacrifice,” the organizations wrote. “The coverage offered under that plan must be consistent with what is available through top commercial plans.”
The groups wrote that lawmakers should expand access to IVF to keep military families on par with federal employees’ health care coverage and that of members of Congress.
“TRICARE must meet the same standards – our service members and their families deserve no less,” they wrote.
The Federal Government’s Office of Personnel Management writes on her website that beginning in 2025, everyone in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program “will now have a choice of multiple plans nationwide that offer comprehensive IVF coverage.” However, these plans do not cover active duty military members or their dependents, who receive their health care coverage from TRICARE.
Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth and California Representative Sara Jacobs, both Democrats, wrote a letter in October, Armed Services Committee leadership was encouraged to expand access to IVF in the final House-Senate version of the NDAA.
“Two-thirds of service members, who often spend their early reproductive years in dangerous conditions and far away from their partners, have reported difficulties building families as a result of military service,” Duckworth and Jacobs wrote. “Most TRICARE beneficiaries must pay out of pocket for fertility treatment, which costs tens of thousands of dollars, while dealing with challenging site relocations and a complex bureaucracy in the health care system.”
Duckworth and Jacobs added that it would be “hypocritical for members of Congress to enjoy quality fertility benefits next year, on the heels of denying such IVF coverage to brave Americans willing to defend our country in uniform.” , and to the dedicated military families who make sacrifices. to support their loved ones’ service to our great country.”
But not all members of Congress supported plans to expand IVF coverage for military personnel.
Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale and Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen, both Republicans, urged the Armed Services Committees to leave IVF access for military service members as it is now.
“While we have great sympathy for couples who are struggling to start a family, IVF is ineffective, leads to the destruction of innocent lives and does nothing to treat the root cause of a couple’s infertility,” they wrote in a one-page letter they sent in November.
The two later added that “Congress must protect our country’s most vulnerable and reject any provision that leads to the destruction of innocent lives and increases our nearly $36 trillion debt.”
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