{"id":958475,"date":"2026-07-25T14:37:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/958475\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T14:37:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:37:27","slug":"san-diego-lawmakers-push-for-action-on-ivf-access-cost-of-fertility-treatments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/958475\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego lawmakers push for action on IVF access, cost of fertility treatments"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>A nurse cares for an infant. (Photo courtesy of UC San Diego Health) <\/p>\n

Rep. Mike Levin last week introduced legislation aimed at expanding access to fertility treatment, more than a year after Rep. Sara Jacobs unveiled a separate measure<\/a> to increase IVF access for military families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Levin\u2019s Fertility Cost Relief Act would exempt early withdrawals<\/a> from retirement accounts from tax penalties when the funds pay for fertility treatments. Jacobs\u2019 bill, reintroduced in December, would expand IVF access<\/a> for military families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposals come as lawmakers at both the state and federal levels have moved in recent years to expand access to fertility treatments.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not clear the efforts, if successful, will fully alleviate the financial burden of IVF.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill expanding fertility insurance<\/a> coverage in the state. As of January, many health insurance plans in the state are required to cover<\/a> both the diagnosis and treatment of infertility \u2014 including in vitro fertilization.<\/p>\n

California is one of 15 states<\/a> with a state fertility insurance law. But after insurance, families can still owe thousands with deductibles, co-insurance and medication coverage, according to Coastal Fertility Medical Center\u2019s 2026 pricing guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Levin\u2019s bill would allow people to withdraw up to $20,000 from their retirement account \u2014 without facing the existing 10% tax penalty for withdrawals before the age of 59.5 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur bipartisan Fertility Cost Relief Act would allow individuals to take money from their retirement accounts to build a family without a financial penalty,\u201d Levin said in a release<\/a>. \u201cThis bill would save families money and give them hope in the face of infertility challenges.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yesh Tikva, a reproductive health organization in Southern California, said the bill is an improvement, but it won\u2019t alleviate the financial burden of infertility treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be recognized as a disease,\u201d said Gila Block, the executive director of Yesh Tikva. \u201cThis isn\u2019t relieving a burden. It is just giving people access to the money that is already theirs without penalizing them for having to take it out early.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Block said many people have to go through multiple rounds of IVF and all it guarantees is \u201cthe opportunity to hope to have a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Families are generally on their last resort when they turn to IVF, Jacobs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe high cost and lack of health insurance coverage mean families are being pushed to the brink to afford this kind of care out of pocket. They\u2019re taking out loans, going into credit card debt, and putting off important milestones just to access this health care,\u201d Jacobs said to Times of San Diego.<\/p>\n

Jacobs\u2019 bill to expand IVF access for military families was initially part of the National Defense Authorization Act, but didn\u2019t make it to the final version. Jacobs and three fellow Congress members introduced the Bipartisan IVF for Military Families Act as a separate piece of legislation after it was stripped from the larger act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCivilian employers are increasingly providing IVF coverage to their employees, and it\u2019s even accessible to every member of Congress and their staff, but the military is still lagging behind,\u201d Jacobs said in a December press release<\/a>. \u201cThis is creating an acute readiness and retention crisis because our military families are forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for IVF, forgo having children, or leave the military to get private coverage instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her bill would require military insurance plans \u2014 TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select \u2014 to cover fertility-related care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Kate Devine, who specializes in reproductive medicine at Shady Grove Fertility, said a federal mandate requiring fertility treatment coverage for military families would represent a significant step forward, but the details of implementation would determine how effective it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there were to be approval for a federal mandate, for the fertility treatments that military service people need, that would be a huge step forward,\u201d Devine said. \u201cOf course, the devil is always in the details in terms of who is able to access coverage and how difficult it is for them to access it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Block said while California has come a long way, it will continue to take state and federal efforts to provide widespread coverage \u201cfor families to be built \u2014 who so desperately want to be built.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvocacy is what got us as far as we\u2019ve gotten, and it is what will continue to move the needle,\u201d Block said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nurse cares for an infant. (Photo courtesy of UC San Diego Health) Rep. Mike Levin last week…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":958476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,327,39840,7331,3549,7264,7333,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-958475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-congress","tag-ivf","tag-mike-levin","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-sara-jacobs","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116981127334864740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}