Committee backs bill to require insurers cover harvesting and one-year storage of reproductive tissue for select diagnoses

House Bill 94 (LC520653) won a do-pass recommendation from the House Health Committee after supporters said it would remove a financial barrier to fertility preservation for people facing medical treatments that can cause infertility.

Representative Lumsden, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure “will provide insurance coverage for costs associated with the harvesting and storage for up to 1 year of certain biological tissues necessary for future in vitro fertilization for those individuals who have been diagnosed” with the specified conditions. He added, “This bill does not cover the cost of in vitro fertilization. It only addresses the cost of harvesting and storage of the biological materials necessary for future in vitro fertilization for those individuals who have been so diagnosed.”

Medical witnesses described the decisions patients face after a diagnosis. Jennifer Colas, a reproductive endocrinologist at Emory who spoke as a private citizen and member of the Georgia Fertility Network, said clinicians frequently see young patients told to make a fast decision about freezing eggs or sperm. “It is incredibly devastating, when the decision comes down to cost and finances,” Colas said, describing patients who want the chance to build a family but decline preservation because of cost.

Breast cancer survivor Alexandra French said she had three weeks from diagnosis to the start of chemotherapy and was fortunate to have her eggs retrieved; she told the committee that other patients do not have that option because of expense. Lynn Goldman, president of the Georgia Fertility Network and a fertility attorney, said advocates had included sickle cell disease because Georgia has among the highest rates in the country.

Jesse Wellington, president and CEO of the Georgia Association of Health Plans, told the panel that his members did not have objections to the bill. Committee members asked technical questions about age limits and scope: Representative Clark noted that line 44 of the bill allows insurers to establish age restrictions, and the sponsor said the insurance commissioner’s office typically sets criteria for those rules.

A motion to give the bill a do-pass recommendation carried by voice vote; committee members recorded no opposition on the transcript. The committee recorded the bill as House Bill 94, LC520653.

The bill now advances to the next committee or calendar step for further consideration, pending scheduling and any fiscal analysis required for later stages.