On Jan. 1, a new California law requiring certain insurance providers to cover in vitro fertilization, a fertility treatment, went into effect. Lawmakers say it will expand access to IVF coverage, notably for same-sex and single-by-choice parents who were excluded by similar laws in the past.
IVF entails collecting eggs from the uterus and fertilizing them with sperm in a lab, and then transferring the embryo into the uterus. Without insurance coverage, one round of IVF usually ranges from $20,000 to nearly $30,000, according to the University of California San Francisco’s Center for Reproductive Health.
“That’s a really hefty price to pay, and it’s not 100% guaranteed that it’s gonna work, so if it doesn’t, you’re down $25,000 and have nothing to show for it,” said junior Nathan Harris, whose same-sex parents used IVF for his conception. “And that can do a lot to people.”
Harris’ parents went through several cycles of IVF before having a successful pregnancy, which caused them a lot of stress financially and emotionally. He believes the new legislation will change that for parents trying to conceive via IVF going forward.
“[The law will] take a lot of stress off of their shoulders,” Harris said. “People deserve to be able to have a family, regardless of if they’re infertile or not. Isn’t that the American Dream? They shouldn’t have to pay an obscene amount for it.”
This perspective reflects the reality that many Americans face. A 2024 survey by financial service company MassMutual found that almost a quarter of Gen Z and millennials do not plan on having kids for financial reasons.
State Sen. Caroline Menjivar, an author of the policy, estimated that the law will allow nine million Californians to gain access to IVF. The statute requires large-group health plans, meaning insurance sponsored by employers with over 100 employees, to cover diagnosis and treatment of infertility, three egg retrievals and an inexhaustible number of embryo transfers. The law does not apply to Medi-Cal, which serves low-income people, religious health coverage or self-employed people.
Those opposing the law argue that using insurance money to fund IVF coverage will increase monthly premiums, but some considered this reasoning to be a double standard.
“There’s lots of other treatments that people don’t get, but you still have to pay for it,” said junior Justin Chan. “Not everyone’s gonna get brain surgery, but you still have to cover other people’s brain surgery. If you exclude IVF just because not everyone [uses it], it’s unfair.”
Still, some viewed the exclusion of Medi-Cal, religious and small-group insurance as inexcusable since it would leave people who rely on those health plans to pay for IVF out-of-pocket if they wanted to use it.
“No one should ever be put in a situation like that,” said junior Catherine Tsao. “From a cost perspective, healthcare is a very unfair world, and those who are low income shouldn’t be punished for being low income by not being able to have a [biological] kid of their own.”
Some critics with religious beliefs that objected to IVF had concerns about the law.
“In a way, the person who is making [the embryos] in the lab is playing God,” said junior Andrea Cruz Velarde, president of Aragon’s Catholic Youth Group club. “The Catholic Church values natural conception, so taking the marital act [away] from someone’s conception goes against the [Church’s] views.”
Adoption is another option for families to grow without natural conception. Children who have not been adopted are placed in the foster care system.
“People are trying to stop this infertility problem, but we need to start with the people who are already here, all the kids who are growing up in the foster care system, which, in many ways, is broken,” said College of San Mateo student Bridgette Martin, who was adopted after her parents were unable to have biological children.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump expressed a desire to make IVF free. More recently, the federal government made a deal with a pharmaceutical company that manufactures IVF medication to offer a discounted price on Trump’s proposed federally-run prescription marketplace, TrumpRx, that is expected to open this year. It’s unclear how much the IVF medication will cost through this program.
According to RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, 15 states currently have laws requiring most insurance to cover IVF, though in many of these states, small businesses and religious organizations are exempt, as is the case in California’s law.
The law applies to eligible health insurance contracts issued or renewed in or after January 2026. For employees relying on the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, coverage starts in July 2027.
