OPM - Office of Personnel Management

09/25/2024 | Press release | Archived content

2024 Open Season IVF Fact Sheet

The Biden-Harris Administration has remained staunch in its efforts to expand access to reproductive health care. This commitment includes expanded access to fertility benefits through the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program.

The FEHB Program is the largest employer-sponsored health insurance programs in the country, serving 8.2 million people. Collectively, FEHB plans cover enrollees in every county in the United States and many working and living overseas.

Benefits offered by FEHB plans are competitive with those offered by large private sector employers and are updated regularly to include the most cost effective and clinically effective treatments, including fertility care and comprehensive maternity care.

FEHB is vital to OPM's mission to attract and retain top talent in the federal workforce. According to the most recent Federal Employee Benefits Survey, two thirds agreed that fertility benefits should be available through FEHB plans, including 76% of people born after 1981.

The 2024 Open Season will provide a number of enhanced benefits to federal employees and their families, including expanded fertility benefits.

Benefit Overview

For 2025, the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program will offer expanded fertility benefits to the federal workforce and their families. Critically, every FEHB enrollee, regardless of where they live, will now have a choice of multiple nationwide plans that offer comprehensive IVF coverage.

The 2025 IVF benefits include:

  • At a minimum, allFEHB plans and plan options must cover all methods of artificial insemination, including drugs, and the drug component of IVF (three cycles annually). A choice of IVF coverage is available to every enrollee in every countyacross the country. For the first time, in every state, there will be multiple plan options offering comprehensive IVF coverage. This is an increase from one nationwide plan in 2024.
  • For example, two nationwide plans offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and GEHA both offer an annual IVF benefit of $25,000 in one of their plan options. This $25,000 can cover the cost of IVF procedures and comes on top of coverage of the 3 cycles of drugs required by all plans.
  • In addition to the nation-wide plans,thirteen states and sub-state regions, and three territories offer one or more additional plans offering IVF coverageabove the minimum required levels. The states, regions, and territories include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
  • Several local/regional plans offer IVF with no cycle or dollar limits.
  • In total, 25 FEHB plans with 45 plan optionswill offer IVF coverage above the required benefit (an increase of 19 plan options for 2025 over 2024). During Open Season, FEHB enrollees can choose a plan with the expanded benefit if they are not already enrolled in one.