For many American service members, defending the nation comes at a personal cost—sometimes even the dream of starting a family. Kathleen Whipple and her Navy husband are among those caught in a frustrating gap in military health care: they need in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive, but the Department of Defense won’t cover it.
After his return from an overseas deployment involving daily exposure to water contaminated with heavy metals, her husband’s sperm count dropped by half. A fertility specialist confirmed IVF was their only realistic path to parenthood—but at a cost of over $25,000, a price they’ve had to pay out of pocket.
“We would like to be able to purchase land and start building a home,” said Ms. Whipple, who lives in San Diego and asked to use her maiden name to protect her husband’s military career. “We don’t have any savings anymore to do that.”
A Bipartisan Push Stalls in Congress
Whipple’s story is not unique. It’s part of a growing wave of advocacy pushing Congress to expand TRICARE—the military’s health care program—to include IVF coverage for active-duty service members and their spouses.
This year, hope flared again. Democrats successfully added an IVF coverage provision to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense policy bill that typically enjoys broad support. Even former President Donald Trump, during his 2024 campaign, promised to make IVF free for all Americans and followed up with an executive order aimed at expanding access shortly after returning to office.
Why Hasn’t It Passed Yet?
Despite bipartisan sympathy, the proposal faces a familiar roadblock: opposition from conservative Republicans. Last year, House Speaker Mike Johnson personally intervened to block a nearly identical measure. With the NDAA now in closed-door negotiations between the House and Senate, advocates fear the IVF provision could be stripped out quietly—again.
What’s at Stake
Over 1.3 million active-duty service members rely on TRICARE for health coverage. Yet unlike many private insurance plans and even some state Medicaid programs, TRICARE does not cover fertility treatments like IVF—even when infertility is linked to service-related exposures or injuries.
Medical groups, veterans’ organizations, and reproductive rights advocates argue that denying this coverage is both unjust and inconsistent with the military’s promise to care for its own.
