ASRM delighted with plans for improved fertility benefits for Federal employees

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) has backed plans by the Federal Government to include artificial insemination and associated medication for up to three cycles of IVF annually in its Employees Health Benefits program (FEHB)

The FEHB Program is the largest employer-sponsored group health insurance program in the world, covering almost 9 million people including employees, annuitants, and their family members, as well as some former spouses and former employees.

Details on what the plans will cover are expected to be released in fall 2023. ASRM is monitoring implementation and communicating with OPM as the process plays out in preparation for coverage to start in 2024.

An ASRM spokeswoman said: “The ASRM thanks Kiran Ahuja, OPM director, and all staff at OPM for their efforts to continuously update reproductive health and assisted reproductive technology (ART) coverage for U.S. government workers.

“ASRM also thanks Representative Gerald Connolly (D-VA) and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Il) for their efforts to highlight the need for increasing FEHB’s health benefits to include ART. You can view this here. ASRM is additionally grateful to its members and staff and allied stakeholders for their tireless work with OPM over the past several years to expand coverage in the FEHB program. This welcome news leaves us optimistic that in future years IVF will be a required coverage in the FEHB program.

“We are aware that the implementation of such new programs can be challenging for patients to access, and we encourage you to let us know if your patients are having trouble accessing their benefits at publicaffairs@asrm.org.”