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How the high cost of IVF became a major election issue

Posted on by L. Dreeye
How the high cost of IVF became a major election issue

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Having children is not cheap. Bree Sison and her husband couldn’t make it either.

Sison and her husband Sam Stewart began trying after Sison’s father was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016. It took three years, one surgery, several attempts at intrauterine insemination, and one round of in vitro fertilization, but it worked. In 2019, their daughter was born.

But without insurance to cover the $40,000 bill, fertility treatments—not to mention other expenses like student loans, daycare, and a mortgage—have squeezed the family’s finances so tight that they have little money left for college. or for retirement.

Stewart, who has already been traveling for much of the year as a member of the Army National Guard, is now away from home for several months working as a military contractor.

“I feel like I’m a single mom most of the year,” said Sison, 40, of Richmond, Virginia. “And that’s a direct result of the debt.”

This election cycle, a desperate search for financial help is on the ballot for families suffering from the high cost of infertility treatment. Fifteen states have some type of IVF insurance law, according to the infertility advocacy group Resolve. Many of those without insurance are forced to take out personal loans or remortgages to afford fertility treatments, which can cost more than $10,000 per cycle.

About one in eight women of reproductive age said they or their partner have needed fertility services at some point, according to a 2024 survey by KFF, a nonprofit health policy research and news organization.

Fourteen percent of these women reported having received in vitro fertilization, a type of assisted reproductive technology in which eggs are combined with sperm in a laboratory to form embryos.

Courtney Deady and her husband had been trying to have a baby for almost 10 years. When filling out the ballot, Deady says she reviews candidates’ records to see where they stand on insurance mandates or tax breaks.

As director of community support for the Building Military Families Network, a nonprofit that supports military and veteran families, Deady, 34, is traveling to Washington to lobby Congress for affordable access to reproductive care. The financial pressure on military families, whose benefits often don’t cover infertility treatments, is especially acute, she said.

“It’s not about red or blue,” she said. “Infertility is a disease, just like cancer.”

Each round of hope and heartbreak has taken a toll on this Ohio National Guard family. The high costs—$100,000 out of pocket—also hampered their attempts to have a child.

Every year the cost of testing, medications and transfers increases. Dady, like her husband, works several jobs, but it’s still not enough.

They only had one embryo left, but they couldn’t move forward right now even if they were ready. Due to high interest rates, they cannot afford to take out another personal loan.

“We’re still hoping it will take time, but we have to be able to afford it, and right now we just can’t,” Deady said.

How Harris and Trump feel about IVF

Voters are looking to former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris for solutions, with nearly 6 in 10 wanting to hear the candidates talk about IVF, according to a KFF poll.

“We’ve never seen fertility services so clearly become a campaign issue discussed by candidates,” said Usha Ranji, associate director of women’s health policy at KFF.

Caroline Leavitt, Trump’s spokeswoman, said she would support “universal access” to IVF.

During the election campaign, Trump also promised to cover related costs. The Trump campaign did not share cost estimates.

“Under the Trump administration, your government will pay—or your insurance company will be required to pay—all costs associated with IVF treatment,” Trump said during an August campaign event in Michigan. “We want more children, in other words. Very beautiful”.

Vice President Kamala Harris has been vocal in her support of IVF but has not outlined plans to expand fertility coverage.

Following the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling in February that frozen embryos created through IVF are children, Harris blamed the fertility crisis on Trump, saying it was a direct result of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“There is only one candidate in this race who trusts women and will protect our freedom to make our own health care decisions: Vice President Kamala Harris,” Harris campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika told USA TODAY.

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Who will pay for IVF coverage?

Regardless of who wins the presidential election, IVF coverage faces an uncertain future.

A national mandate for IVF insurance coverage would likely require congressional approval. That won’t be easy if Republicans win the House or Senate, said Barbara Collura, CEO of Resolve.

“Both (presidential) candidates have the potential to make a positive movement,” she said. “But if one chamber is Republican, we’ll probably have a harder time.”

Figuring out who will pay for IVF costs can be a major stumbling block.

Collura said IVF has not yet gone out of business in states with mandatory insurance. She pointed to data from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, where fertility benefits have been mandated for more than three decades, that suggest infertility benefits account for less than 1% of total premium costs.

Vanessa Brown Calder, director of opportunity and family policy research at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, estimates that mandatory IVF would cost the government about $7 billion a year. If expanded insurance coverage leads to a surge in demand for IVF, she estimates annual costs could rise to $43 billion.

Alabama puts IVF front and center in election

IVF has become a national issue following the Alabama Supreme Court decision.

While polls show the vast majority of Americans support IVF, some oppose it because the procedure can mean destroying unused embryos.

Democrats like Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who sponsored the IVF Right Act, argue that treatment is an important part of reproductive health care. Sean Tipton, chief advocacy and policy officer for the research and advocacy group American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said supporting IVF is a “tough sell” for many in the Republican Party.

This year, members of Congress twice tried and failed to pass bills protecting access to IVF. The bills were blocked by Senate Republicans.

“Donald Trump’s statements in support of IVF and in support of requiring insurance coverage for IVF are something we are very happy to hear,” Tipton said. “On the other hand, to be honest, they lack specifics. So I think it’s hard to know.”

When Chicago Republican strategist Collin Corbett, 38, and his wife Abby welcomed their first son in March after more than three years of IVF, his phone buzzed with notifications that the Republican Party and its presidential candidate did not support the procedure.

From his daily conversations with hundreds of conservatives across the country, Corbett said he knows that’s not true.

A nationwide study last year by former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway’s IVF and fertility consulting firm backs up that claim. He found strong support in conservative circles, including 78% of anti-abortion people and 83% of evangelicals.

“IVF, which is so important to me personally and so important to so many families, especially with declining birth rates across the country, is not an issue we should be turning into a political football,” Corbett said. “If you want to play games with some other challenges, fine. But this is real life. This is the future of many families. This is an economic problem for many families.”

He said he and his wife have insurance and own their own business. IVF still drained their savings.

“I can’t imagine a working family struggling to survive and wanting to have children. I don’t know how they can afford that expense,” Corbett said. “It’s absolutely part of the cost of living equation for families now, and I think more elected leaders, more candidates need to talk about it.”

Pro-birth voters may lean toward the Harris-Waltz ticket

Some voters told USA TODAY they are skeptical Trump will follow through on his IVF promises.

“He hasn’t given me any reason to believe anything he says,” said Sison, a former IVF patient in Virginia. “As for the Conservatives, I don’t trust them, especially on this issue.”

Sison said she has voted Republican most of her life but supports Harris and her vice presidential running mate, Tim Walz, whose family also had fertility problems.

“He understands the desire to build your family or become a parent and have all this love to give and it’s out of your control. He gets it,” Sison said.

A recent KFF poll of women voters found Harris with a 2-to-1 advantage over Trump when it comes to who is trusted to do a better job making decisions about access to abortion, access to birth control and IVF.

Stephanie Vojas Taylor, a 41-year-old lawyer and mother of two from Chicago, conceived her first child through in vitro fertilization after struggling to get pregnant. Concerned that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022 could jeopardize fertility treatments. For other families, she helped craft an updated version of Illinois law protecting access to IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies.

“I wouldn’t wish that kind of desperation on my worst enemy, not being able to have a child,” said Vojas Taylor, who estimates she and her husband spent about $50,000 to have their eldest son. “We need Republicans and Democrats to agree that people should have access to this treatment. Because at the end of the day, it’s just about giving people choice and increasing their chances of having a baby.”