Former President Donald Trump’s latest pledge to support in vitro fertilization treatments mirrors a recent proposal from California, the Democratic stronghold he’s complained is “ruined.”
Trump promised this week that the government or health insurance companies would fully fund IVF healthcare if he wins a second term. His vow came the same day California Democrats sent a similar plan to Gov. Gavin Newom’s (D-CA) desk for approval.
“I am announcing today that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for all costs associated with IVF treatment,” the former president declared during a campaign stop at a Michigan steel plant Thursday.
“We want more babies!” he explained as workers adorned with hard hats looked on.
Hours before Trump unveiled the new policy at the Potterville Alro Steel distribution center, the California Senate cleared State Senate Bill 729, which contains similar proposals to expand insurance coverage for infertility treatments.
State Sen. Caroline Menjivar and Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, both members of the Democratic Party, spearheaded the legislation and shepherded it through the California legislature.
“This bill requires both large and small healthcare plans to provide diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility services,” Wicks told CBS News this week. “I know IVF is really important, and we’re hoping our health insurance plans cover it.”
While Trump and California are on the same track when it comes to mandating IVF coverage, their paths likely diverge when it comes to who healthcare providers will be required to cover.
A key component of the Golden State’s plan lies in expanding mandatory IVF insurance coverage to the LGBTQ community.
Infertility is currently defined in the state as the inability of a heterosexual couple to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse for women under the age of 35 or six months for women over age 35.
Democratic California lawmakers believe transgender women and lesbian couples should also be included in expanded IVF coverage.
“California’s current law not only leaves out coverage for IVF, it also defines infertility in such a narrow way as to exclude the LGBTQ community and single people needing medical intervention to build their families,” Wicks stated Thursday.
Menjivar pledged SB729 would “ensure that queer couples no longer have to pay more out-of-pocket to start families than non-queer families” in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
While Trump has not yet detailed how the government or health insurance companies will fund his plan to expand IVF coverage, California agencies have come out swinging against Menjivar and Wick’s bill and said it would cost millions.
Newsom’s Department of Finance has warned that the measure would raise premiums for all California residents, and the California Chamber of Commerce has also expressed opposition to it.
The IVF legislation would cost between $15 million and $80 million to implement in the next two years, according to the outlet.
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Trump has long ridiculed California as a “ruined” state “destroyed” by Vice President Kamala Harris, his opponent this election cycle. Before ascending to serve as Biden’s No. 2 and helming the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, Harris served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.
“She’ll destroy our country just like she destroyed San Francisco, just like she destroyed California,” Trump said during a North Carolina rally earlier this month.
