Advocates for fertility patients say the language is vague, but they are encouraged about an executive order signed by President Trump as a first step to lowering IVF costs and increasing access.
The discussion of accessible and affordable fertility treatments is once again trending following an executive order by President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, Trump signed an order to expand access to and reduce the costs of in vitro and other fertilization treatments.
The president instructed his staff to return within 90 days with policy changes to “aggressively cut out-of-pocket and health plan costs.”
Lisa Rosenthal, president of All Paths Family Building, a nonprofit that helps people build a family unit, said she was excited to hear the topic of fertilization was back on the national level.
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“As an organization dedicated to protected access to fertility care including IVF, we read this executive order with a lot of interest,” Rosenthal said.
However, Rosenthal said there remains some apprehension on what the changes will look like.
“We’re kind of in a wait and see, how will this pan out? While we are cautiously optimistic, we are cautiously optimistic because there are other things at play in the reproductive health field that have not been addressed," she said.
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Rosenthal shared she, herself, went through fertility struggles from the young age of 26 and described it as one of the most impactful parts of her life.
“It attacked absolutely everything, my sense of self, my sense of self in the world, my marriage, my family relationships, I spent a lot of years looking in the mirror and not recognizing the person looking back at me and that’s hard,” Rosenthal said.
Shannon Hansen from Glastonbury also shared her fertility journey.
Hansen, who is in a same-sex marriage, began her fertility journey in 2022. After a couple of intrauterine insemination treatments, she was told her next best option would be to try in vitro fertilization.
Hansen said she has not begun the IVF process. but the costs alone can be a setback.
As it relates to the president’s executive order, she said she will remain hopeful that same-sex couples will be eligible for the treatments at a reduced cost.
“On its face the executive order has a very positive title and it says that its expanding fertility treatments to citizens, however I think some of the language in there is left to interpretation," Hansen said.
Dr. Daniel Grow, reproductive endocrinologist at UConn Health, believes the executive order has the right intent.
“IVF can be very, very successful but we have to make it accessible to our patients,” Grow said.
He said with the growing demand for IVF treatments across the country, the policy change may also increase the number of IVF providers.
“It would likely incentivize efforts to have more physicians and nurses able to perform IVF and able to treat infertility so that would be a good problem to have," he said.
