121 pages. "These proposed rules are generally intended to provide employers and health insurance issuers with flexibility to cover a broad spectrum of treatments and interventions for fertility- related and pre-conception care as part of the excepted fertility benefit. The Departments believe allowing employers and health insurance issuers this flexibility creates the opportunity for fertility benefits to help individuals address their specific fertility needs, regardless of whether they need pre-conception care related to the underlying cause of infertility or more invasive treatments and procedures, like IVF.... In addition to the proposed limitation on the scope of coverage, the Departments are also proposing to establish a lifetime dollar limit for the proposed excepted fertility benefits....

"[W]hile the plan sponsor would be required to offer a traditional group health plan to all individuals offered the fertility benefit, participants in the fertility benefit (and beneficiaries, if eligible for the fertility benefit) would not be required to enroll in that traditional group health plan in order for the fertility benefit to qualify as a limited excepted benefit....

"[T]he Departments propose ... to require that plans and issuers provide written notice to plan participants and beneficiaries  ... for fertility benefits to qualify as limited excepted benefits....

"This proposal to create an excepted fertility benefit as a new category of limited excepted benefits would apply to group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group health insurance coverage for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2027."  MORE >>

"This proposal addresses employers' sparse coverage of fertility-related treatments for the American worker and increases benefit options by easing statutory and regulatory burdens to make IVF and other fertility treatments more affordable. Though most workers of reproductive age receive healthcare coverage through their jobs, the majority do not have robust fertility coverage. The proposed rule would establish a new category of limited excepted benefits. Excepted benefits are generally exempt from the market reforms under the [ACA] and certain other federal health care coverage laws. This new category would apply limiting principles similar to those already in place for other limited excepted benefits."  MORE >>