When the Defense Department expanded U.S. service members' eligibility for certain fertility benefits in 2024, the Department of Veterans Affairs had to follow suit by law.
But while the VA must cover the same treatments as the DoD, not all the same individuals -- specifically, not surrogates who carry a baby for someone else -- may receive treatment from the VA.
All VA healthcare beneficiaries generally qualify for most fertility services and treatments, but only veterans whose infertility is service-connected and their legal spouse may receive in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Here is an explanation of the fertility benefits the VA provides to veterans and their spouses:
All Enrolled Veterans
For most VA fertility benefits, veterans need only to be enrolled in VA health care to qualify for coverage. Services and treatments include:
- Counseling and assessments
- Tests, imaging and scans
- Hormone therapy and fertility medications
- Artificial insemination
- Surgery for conditions contributing to infertility
- Reversal of tubal ligation or vasectomy
- Sperm retrieval
- Egg and sperm freezing (cryopreservation)
In Vitro Fertilization
The VA limits its coverage of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to instances in which a veteran’s service-connected disability "results in the inability to procreate without the use of fertility treatment."
IVF treatment involves fertilizing eggs with sperm in a lab, then placing the resulting embryos into someone's uterus to try to start a pregnancy. A surrogate may carry the fetus and give birth.
However, unlike Tricare, the VA won't cover the treatment for an unmarried partner or surrogate because only veterans and their legal spouses are listed in the federal regulations, separate from the DoD's, authorizing the VA to provide IVF.
The 2024 change in regulations reversed the past requirements that eligible veterans be legally married and both able to produce eggs and sperm.
Since the change, the VA won't disqualify veterans based on their marital status, and it will allow donated eggs and sperm, opening up eligibility to unmarried veterans and those in same-sex marriages.
For male veterans in same-sex couples, the VA said it will now cover the part of the IVF process of creating a fertilized embryo with a donated egg.
The VA refers IVF patients to outside providers.
To find out whether you're eligible for VA health care, go to www.va.gov/health-care/eligibility/.
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