The bill would expand fertility services for some service members and veterans. The Department of Defense would provide fertility treatment and counseling to service members and their spouses, partners, or gestational surrogates. It would also offer fertility preservation before certain dangerous assignments and after an injury or illness that may affect fertility. The Department of Veterans Affairs would provide fertility treatment and counseling to enrolled veterans and certain spouses, partners, donors, or surrogates. It could also help pay adoption costs for covered veterans and would support research on veterans’ reproductive health.
If you are a service member, the bill would make fertility care available without regard to factors such as marital status or infertility diagnosis. If you are a veteran, you would need to be enrolled in the VA’s patient system to qualify for the fertility and adoption assistance described in the bill. Service members and veterans could get help finding providers and continuing care when they move or change status. The bill would require regulations within two years of enactment.
The bill sets no specific dollar amounts. The military would provide storage of reproductive genetic material at no cost until one year after a member leaves the Armed Forces; after that, the individual would pay to continue storage or could move the material to a private facility. Some veterans may have to agree to pay applicable VA copayments for fertility care. The VA could pay adoption assistance up to a limit based on the cost of no more than three adoptions. The bill also allows payment or reimbursement for reasonable costs of donated genetic material and, in some cases, related travel and incidental costs.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.