Advocates press committee to take up H.302 next year to require insurance coverage for fertility and preservation

Advocates, medical providers and people with lived experience asked the Senate Health and Welfare Committee April 10 to consider House Bill H.302 next year, a proposal that would require private and public insurance to cover certain fertility diagnostic tests, treatments (including in vitro fertilization) and medically necessary fertility preservation.

Kate Walden LeBlanc, executive director of All Paths Family Building, said the organization is urging lawmakers to take H.302 up next year and stressed inclusion, noting Vermont is the last Northeastern state without comprehensive fertility-insurance legislation. “It is estimated that 1 in every 6 people will go through infertility,” she said, and she described the bill’s coverage as limited by medical guidance while still allowing flexibility for families who need multiple cycles.

Representatives from Northeastern Reproductive Medicine in Colchester and patient advocates testified that fertility preservation is frequently medically necessary for patients facing cancer and other treatments that can impair fertility. Several speakers said state action would reduce a key financial barrier and help retain younger Vermonters who otherwise might move to neighboring states that already guarantee fertility coverage.

Witnesses described specific guardrails in the draft bill — limits tied to medical guidance and allowances for medically necessary preservation — and urged lawmakers to craft inclusive language for LGBTQIA+ families and people needing genetic screening. Committee members thanked the witnesses and asked advocates and providers to return next session with cost and implementation details; H.302 was not advanced during the April 10 hearing.

Advocates said they will continue outreach and urged the committee to schedule the bill for substantive consideration in the next legislative session.