DoD walks back policy, reinstates travel coverage for fertility treatments

The Pentagon has reversed course on its initial plan to fully repeal its non-covered reproductive health care travel policy to allow service members receiving reproductive care services to continue to be reimbursed for expenses incurred while traveling.

A previous memo from the Defense Travel Management Office issued last month fully removed a section from the Joint Travel Regulations that authorized travel allowances for service members and their dependents seeking out-of-state reproductive health care services, such as abortion, in-vitro fertilization, or egg retrieval.

A new memo signed by Sarah Moore, the Defense Travel Management Office deputy director, states that the travel policy the Pentagon completely scrubbed just two weeks ago does not apply to service members seeking fertility treatments.

The directive says the rescission announced two weeks ago “should not be interpreted as the elimination of access to non-covered assisted reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilization.”

The policy only covers ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval, sperm collection and processing, intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilization.

Service members traveling to receive fertility treatments will need to obtain an approval from the appropriate authority — transportation allowances for service members and their dependents “may” be authorized when the procedure is confirmed by the licensed health care provider or clinic that will be providing the services.

“Substantiating documentation provided by the traveler to the approving official must include details of the procedures to be performed, dates of consultation appointments and/or procedures, and include any of the following: identification of a treatment plan schedule, medical diagnosis, and patient names to verify eligibility,” the memo states.

For egg retrieval procedures, however, it’s based on the individual hormonal phase of the month, so it’s hard to predict how an individual’s body is going to react to the treatment in advance. That puts service members in a position where they are not able to provide the exact treatment schedule dates.

The directive also emphasizes the travel reimbursement will only cover the cost of traveling to the nearest facility. Every clinic, however, takes different insurance, so there is no guarantee the nearest clinic will accept service members’ coverage. The memo says when a service member uses a different location than the closest location to their base, a cost comparison will be done to determine reimbursement.

Service members are authorized standard transportation allowances, and eligible dependents “may” be authorized reimbursement for lodging, meals, and transportation.  If a service member can’t travel alone, escorts will be reimbursed for travel.

The rescinded Biden-era travel policy, implemented in response to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, allowed service members to get their transportation, lodging, and food expenses to be covered to access off-base reproductive health care. A separate Biden policy allowed service members to take administrative leave without it being deducted from their leave balance.

The travel policy the DoD walked back will continue to disproportionately impact enlisted service members and their families, as they are the most financially vulnerable, said Caitlin Clason, an Army veteran and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Servicewomen and dependents already pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for abortion and infertility care that TRICARE does not cover. The U.S. military also has a large number of personnel in states that have been limiting access to reproductive healthcare — leading healthcare providers to leave those states — so servicewomen will likely have to travel father and/or experience longer wait times when trying to access care,” Clason told Federal News Network. 

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