H.R. 2557: IVF for Military Families Act

H.R. 2557, the IVF for Military Families Act, would require the Defense Department to cover fertility-related care under both TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select for active-duty service members and their dependents. That turns fertility treatment into a defined benefit rather than a patchwork families navigate on their own.

The bill is specific about IVF. Coverage would include up to three completed egg-retrieval cycles, plus unlimited embryo transfers as long as they follow American Society for Reproductive Medicine guidelines.

Who counts as a candidate is written broadly. The bill defines infertility three ways: failure to get or stay pregnant after regular unprotected sex under medical-society guidelines; the inability to reproduce without medical help, whether you're single or partnered; or a doctor's diagnosis based on your history, age, exam, or test results. That last definition is written to reach beyond married heterosexual couples with a standard diagnosis.

The covered care is just as broad. It runs from diagnosis through IVF, egg and sperm retrieval, freezing and storage of eggs, sperm, or embryos, artificial insemination including IUI, fertility medications, and care coordination — plus anything else the Secretary of Defense later decides to add.

Beyond mandating coverage, the bill would create a new Defense Department program to coordinate fertility care and train civilian providers on what military patients need. The whole thing applies to services provided on or after October 1, 2027, giving the Pentagon time to update TRICARE rules and provider networks.