Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

Tennessee House Bill HB0595 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
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2	2	SENATE BILL 463
3	3	By Briggs
4	4
5	5	HOUSE BILL 595
6	6	By Hemmer
7	7
8	8
9	9	HB0595
10	10	002107
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13	13	AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 56
14	14	and Title 71, relative to families.
15	15
16	16	BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
17	17	SECTION 1. This act is known and may be cited as the "Freedom to Grow Our
18	18	Tennessee Families Act."
19	19	SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 56, Chapter 7, Part 23, is amended by
20	20	adding the following as a new section:
21	21	(a) As used in this section:
22	22	(1) "Enrollee" means a person on whose behalf a health insurer is
23	23	obligated to pay benefits or provide services under a health benefit plan;
24	24	(2) "Experimental fertility procedure" means a procedure for which the
25	25	published medical evidence is not sufficient for the American Society for
26	26	Reproductive Medicine, its successor organization, or a comparable organization
27	27	to regard the procedure as established medical practice;
28	28	(3) "Fertility diagnostic care" means procedures, products, medications,
29	29	and services intended to provide information and counseling about an individual's
30	30	fertility, including laboratory assessments and imaging studies;
31	31	(4) "Fertility patient" means:
32	32	(A) An individual or couple with infertility;
33	33	(B) An individual unable to conceive as an individual or with a
34	34	partner because the individual or couple does not have the necessary
35	35	gametes for conception; or
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40	40	(C) A couple that is at increased risk of transmitting a serious
41	41	inheritable genetic or chromosomal condition to a child;
42	42	(5) "Fertility preservation services":
43	43	(A) Means procedures, products, medications, and services
44	44	intended to preserve fertility, consistent with established medical practice
45	45	and professional guidelines published by the American Society for
46	46	Reproductive Medicine, its successor organization, or a comparable
47	47	organization, for an individual who has a medical condition or who is
48	48	expected to receive medical treatment that may cause or has the
49	49	potential to cause a risk of impairment of fertility; and
50	50	(B) Includes evaluation expenses; laboratory assessments;
51	51	medications; treatment associated with fertility preservation services; the
52	52	procurement and cryopreservation of gametes, embryos, and
53	53	reproductive material; and storage from the time of cryopreservation for a
54	54	period of at least three (3) years;
55	55	(6) "Fertility treatment" means procedures, products, medications, and
56	56	services intended to achieve pregnancy that results in a live birth with healthy
57	57	outcomes and that are provided in a manner consistent with established medical
58	58	practice and professional guidelines published by the American Society for
59	59	Reproductive Medicine, its successor organization, or a comparable
60	60	organization;
61	61	(7) "Gamete" means sperm or eggs;
62	62	(8) "Health benefit plan" means a contract or policy for health insurance
63	63	coverage, as defined in § 56-7-109;
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68	68	(9) "Health insurer" means a health insurance entity, as defined in § 56-
69	69	7-109; and
70	70	(10) "Infertility" means:
71	71	(A) The inability to establish pregnancy or to carry a pregnancy to
72	72	live birth after twelve (12) months of regular, unprotected sexual
73	73	intercourse when the couple has the necessary gametes for conception,
74	74	or a period of less than twelve (12) months due to a person's age or other
75	75	factors when the couple has the necessary gametes for conception. A
76	76	pregnancy that does not result in a live birth does not toll or restart the
77	77	twelve-month period of time described in this subdivision (a)(7)(A); or
78	78	(B) The presence of a condition recognized by a licensed
79	79	physician that impacts an individual's ability to establish pregnancy or to
80	80	carry a pregnancy based on a patient's medical, sexual, and reproductive
81	81	history, age, physical findings, or diagnostic testing, or any combination of
82	82	such factors.
83	83	(b) A health insurer that issues, delivers, amends, or renews a health benefit
84	84	plan that is to be in effect in this state on or after January 1, 2026, shall provide
85	85	coverage for all of the following:
86	86	(1) Fertility diagnostic care;
87	87	(2) Fertility treatment; and
88	88	(3) Fertility preservation services.
89	89	(c) Coverage required by subsection (b) must:
90	90	(1) Include at least three (3) complete oocyte retrievals with unlimited
91	91	embryo transfers from those oocyte retrievals or from any oocyte retrieval
92	92	performed prior to January 1, 2026, in accordance with the guidelines of the
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97	97	American Society for Reproductive Medicine, using single embryo transfer when
98	98	recommended and medically appropriate; and
99	99	(2) Be provided regardless of whether donor gametes or embryos are
100	100	used or an embryo is transferred to the uterus of a person acting as surrogate.
101	101	(d) Coverage for fertility preservation services pursuant to subsection (b) must
102	102	be provided regardless of an enrollee's past or present treatment for cancer, sickle cell
103	103	disease, lupus, menorrhagia, endometriosis, or uterine fibroids.
104	104	(e) Relative to coverage required by subsection (b), a health insurer shall not:
105	105	(1) Impose a waiting period;
106	106	(2) Use a prior diagnosis or prior fertility treatment as a basis for
107	107	excluding, limiting, or otherwise restricting the availability of such coverage;
108	108	(3) Impose limitations on coverage for fertility services based on an
109	109	enrollee's use of donor gametes, donor embryos, or surrogacy; or
110	110	(4) Impose different limitations on coverage for, provide different benefits
111	111	to, or impose different requirements on a class of persons on account of an
112	112	individual's actual or perceived race, color, sex, disability, ancestry, or
113	113	relationship status.
114	114	(f) Any limitation a health insurer imposes on the coverage required by this
115	115	section must be based on an enrollee's medical history and clinical guidelines adopted
116	116	by the health insurer. Any clinical guidelines used by a health insurer must be based on
117	117	current guidelines developed by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, its
118	118	successor organization, or a comparable organization; must cite with specificity any data
119	119	or scientific reference relied upon; must be maintained in written form; and must be
120	120	made available to an enrollee in writing upon request.
121	121	(g) This section does not require a health insurer to provide coverage for:
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126	126	(1) An experimental fertility procedure; or
127	127	(2) Nonmedical costs related to donor gametes, donor embryos, or
128	128	surrogacy.
129	129	(h) The commissioner of commerce and insurance is authorized to promulgate
130	130	rules to effectuate this section, including, but not limited to, cost-sharing, benefit design,
131	131	and clinical guidelines. When promulgating such rules, the commissioner shall consider
132	132	the clinical guidelines developed by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, its
133	133	successor organization, or a comparable organization. The rules must be promulgated
134	134	in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4,
135	135	chapter 5.
136	136	SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 71-3-104(b)(1), is amended by
137	137	deleting the subsection and substituting the following:
138	138	(1) A caretaker relative who becomes ineligible for any reason is eligible for
139	139	transitional childcare assistance for a period of not less than six (6) months. The
140	140	department shall pay childcare assistance on a sliding fee scale based upon a family's
141	141	income for so long as federal funding or any related waiver is in effect.
142	142	SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 71-5-107(a), is amended by adding
143	143	the following as a new subsection:
144	144	(29) Fertility care for a fertility patient, as described in SECTION 2.
145	145	SECTION 5. This act takes effect January 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.