CVS Health’s Aetna health insurance company is expanding coverage of fertility services to increase access to “family-building possibilities, regardless of sexual orientation or partner status,” the company said Tuesday.
Aetna, which is the nation’s third largest health insurance company with 27 million health plan members, said it now offers intrauterine insemination (IUI), also known as artificial insemination, as a medical benefit for eligible plans.
Aetna said it is the “first major insurer to update this coverage policy nationally,” but there have been some employer-sponsored and union plans make similar moves in the last year including SAG-AFTRA health plan, which added infertility treatment to it’s coverage beginning in 2025.
Aetna’s move comes as fertility treatments and whether they should be covered, or even legal, has become a campaign issue less than three months before the November presidential election. Reproductive rights have generally been a key issue for Democrats since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.
In particular, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, has made his family’s struggle with infertility a key part of the early weeks of the campaign to elect Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee and himself in their race against Republicans Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
Walz’s wife Gwen used intrauterine insemination (IUI) to become pregnant, according to media reports. Nearly 2% of women ages 15 to 49 years old have tried such a procedure to start a family, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Expanding IUI coverage is yet another demonstration of Aetna’s commitment to women’s health across all communities, including LGBTQ+ and unpartnered people,” said Dr. Cathy Moffitt, senior vice president and Aetna chief medical officer. “This industry-leading policy change is a stake in the ground, reflecting Aetna’s support of all who need to use this benefit as a preliminary step in building their family.”
Aetna said the updated coverage policy “begins nationwide on September 1, 2024 for many plans and will be effective on a rolling basis for most plans on renewal,” the company said.
“Aetna plan sponsors do not need to make changes, as this is a policy change for eligible medical plans,” the company added. “As a standard process, self-funded plan sponsors may modify their coverage of any benefit, including infertility. For more information, plan sponsors should reach out to their account managers.”
Aetna said the policy change applies to all Aetna plans but “the biggest benefit” will be seen by the health insurer’s commercial and individual health plans, which are purchased by employers and individuals and include about 19 million of the company’s health plan members. Medicaid coverage for poor Americans and Medicare plans for disabled and elderly Americans that are administered by Aetna are “always based on state and federal guidelines” the company said and therefore may not cover the artificial insemination benefit.
Still, supporters of Aetna’s policy said in the company’s press release said many women across the U.S. will benefit from this change.
“We know firsthand the barriers people face in accessing needed medical care to start or grow their families,” Kate Steinle, chief clinical officer for FOLX, a healthcare provider for the LGBTQ+ community. “As an in-network provider focused on the LGBTQ+ community, we applaud Aetna’s efforts to reduce out-of- pocket costs, so that more people can have the families they dream of – and deserve.”
