Connecticut lawmakers heard testimony this week on a bill that would require insurers to cover fertility care not only for people who are diagnosed as infertile, but also for LGBTQ couples and single people who need medical assistance to build their families.
Connecticut families and reproductive rights and LGBTQ advocates testified before the state Assembly’s Human Services Committee on February 28 in support of An Act Promoting Equity in Coverage for Fertility Health Care (HB 6617).
Under current law, private insurance companies are only required to cover fertility treatments for people diagnosed as “infertile”—but infertility is defined in reference to heterosexual intercourse. As many readers here will know from personal experience, LGBTQ couples and single people who need fertility care simply because they cannot conceive without medical assistance are therefore often excluded from such coverage (although some companies have already taken steps to address this). HB 6617, however, would require insurance companies to cover fertility care for LGBTQ and single individuals who simply need medical assistance, as well as for people who are diagnosed as infertile.
Kim Forte, a lesbian parent to seven-year-old twins, told the committee that in order to “prove” her infertility before receiving coverage, she and her spouse had to self-pay $15,000 in out-of-pocket costs for six months of “intrauterine inseminations, something my doctors knew that given my age would likely not be successful.” There was also a substantial physical and emotional toll from six unnecessary months of medical procedures, which likely would not have been required if she had been in a different-sex relationship.
The bill would for the first time also require HUSKY Health, the state’s Medicaid program, to provide coverage for fertility care, including fertility preservation. The lack of such coverage has perpetuated racial disparities in access to fertility care.
Connecticut has previously shown itself to be a leader in legislation related to LGBTQ families. Since the passage of the Connecticut Parentage Act in June 2021, it is one of only a handful of states with parentage laws that are based on (or substantially similar to) the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act (UPA), model legislation created to (among other things) ensure that state parentage laws remain constitutional by providing equality and paths to parentage for LGBTQ families. (Read more on the UPA in this post.)
Matthew Blinstrubus, executive director of Equality Connecticut, the state’s leading LGBTQ rights organization, told the committee, “Connecticut has already made updates to other laws regarding modern family formation, and some of the state’s employers have voluntarily taken the initiative to provide comprehensive fertility care coverage. It’s time for the state’s fertility regulations to follow suit to ensure equitable access to fertility healthcare.”
“I’m proud of what Connecticut has done to update our laws to reflect our modern understanding of family, including LGBTQ+ families,” said Representative Jeff Currey (D-East Hartford), the bill’s sponsor. “HB 6617 would bring the state’s fertility insurance requirements up to speed with Connecticut’s other LGBTQ+-inclusive laws recognizing modern family formation.”
Only 18 states require insurance coverage for any type of fertility care, and only two (Illinois and Maine) require insurers to provide fertility benefits to people unable to reproduce as individuals or with their partner without medical intervention. The U.S. as a whole is lagging in this. In 2022, the U.K. announced that female same-sex couples, as well as trans and nonbinary people with uteruses, would no longer have to pay for expensive rounds of assisted insemination to “prove” infertility before accessing in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Other states with active legislation that would require insurers to cover this kind of inclusive fertility care include California, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. Additionally, New Hampshire has introduced a bill that would launch a cost study about providing this type of coverage. For more details, see information from RESOLVE, and check with your state’s LGBTQ and reproductive rights organizations.
To help move the Connecticut bill forward and keep up to date with its progress, visit Fertility Access Connecticut (FACT), a campaign by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Equality Connecticut, Gay Parents to Be, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Illume Fertility, the National Health Law Program, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, the Reproductive Rights Justice Project (RRJP) at Yale Law School, Resolve New England, and others.