Kaine Cosponsors Bill to Expand Access to IVF for Federal Employees

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, announced his cosponsorship of the Family Building FEHB Fairness Act, which would expand and protect access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other types of assisted reproductive technology (ART) for millions of Americans. This legislation would require that insurance providers in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program-which covers more than 8 million federal employees, retirees, and their dependents and is the largest employer-run health insurance program in the U.S.-provide coverage of IVF and ART for enrollees.

"Amid state restrictions on reproductive health care, we must take steps to protect Americans' freedom to decide whether, when, and how to start or build their families without government interference," said Kaine. "That includes expanding access to the miracle that is IVF and other assisted reproductive technology. The Family Building FEHB Fairness Act can help us do that, by requiring the largest employer-run health insurance program in America to cover these services."

Kaine previously wrote to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), urging the agency to require FEHB providers to cover ART services and treatments. OPM has made incremental progress since then, but only approximately two dozen out of over two hundred FEHB plans currently offer some level of ART coverage, and these plans vary greatly in terms of which specific services and treatments are included.

Kaine is a vocal advocate for reproductive freedom in Congress. Following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that led to restricted access of IVF, Kaine cosponsored the Access to Family Building Actto protect Americans' right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology services. In March, Kaine invited Norfolk-born Elizabeth Carr, the first person born in the United States via IVF, to join him as his guest at the State of the Union. Kaine has held multipleroundtables in Virginia to discuss the need to protect IVF. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, Kaine worked across the aisle to introduce the Reproductive Freedom For All Act, a bipartisan bill to protect access to abortion and contraception.

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