Asking for Tricare to cover family planning (the only instance is if Soldier has a diagnosed condition from deployment causing infertility).

The proposal is to expand Tricare coverage to family planning to help alleviate the financial burden on Service Members. Currently, other health insurance companies (including Blue Cross Blue Shield, which is available to technicians) have some form of infertility coverage, including intrauterine insemination (IUI), in-vitro fertilization (IVF), surrogacy, and other fertility treatments. Currently, Tricare will only cover the treatments if the Service Member has been diagnosed with infertility loss related to deployment.

Tricare covers other types of hormone therapy, including hormones prescribed to individuals with Gender Dysphoria, and may cover surgery for medically-necessary, gender-affirming surgery (https://www.tricare.mil/CoveredServices/IsItCovered/GenderDysphoriaServices).

Infertility is experienced by 1 in 6 couples at some point in life. (https://www.militaryfamilybuilding.org/?fbclid=IwAR1kSFUFez346RABnG_owLsf8ppNqr8dbbHEg74C0U9Ib5Kf5ZdRfzQAp-o)

There are already bills in the works for Tricare, which NGAUS/ENGAUS can support: https://resolve.org/legislation/the-access-to-infertility-treatment-and-care-act-s-2352-and-h-r-4450/

https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-delauro-re-introduce-bill-to-increase-access-to-infertility-treatment

This expansion can affect so many areas of a Service Member's life. Depression from infertility is a real affliction and can cause undue stress to a family. https://womensmentalhealth.org/specialty-clinics-2/infertility-and-mental-health/

This can also help increase re-enlistment and retention numbers, when Service Members feel that they are taken care of (and that includes the perception that insurance coverage is comparable to the civilian sector), they are more likely to stay in the military.

It is recommended that Tricare expand coverage to include infertility treatments.