§ 52:14-17.46 — 6g School Employees Health Benefits Program to provide coverage for treatment of infertility.

New Jersey § 52:14-17.46

• Jurisdiction: New Jersey
• Title 52: STATE GOVERNMENT, DEPARTMENTS AND OFFICERS

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7. The School Employees Health Benefits Commission shall ensure that every contract under the School Employees Health Benefits Program shall provide coverage for medically necessary expenses, as determined by a physician, incurred in the diagnosis and treatment of infertility as provided pursuant to this section. The School Employees Health Benefits Program contract shall provide coverage for any services related to infertility in accordance with American Society for Reproductive Medicine guidelines and as determined by a physician, which includes, but is not limited to: diagnosis and diagnostic tests; medications; surgery; intrauterine insemination; in vitro fertilization, including in vitro fertilization using donor eggs and in vitro fertilization where the embryo is transferred to a gestational carrier or surrogate; genetic testing; artificial insemination; intracytoplasmic sperm injection; four completed egg retrievals; unlimited embryo transfers, in accordance with guidelines from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, using single embryo transfer when recommended and deemed medically appropriate by a physician; and medical costs of egg or sperm donors, including office visits, medications, laboratory and radiological procedures, and retrieval, shall be covered until the donor is released from treatment by the reproductive endocrinologist. The School Employees Health Benefits Commission may provide that coverage for in vitro fertilization shall be limited to a covered person who has used all reasonable, less expensive, and medically appropriate treatments, as determined by a licensed physician, and is still unable to become pregnant or carry a pregnancy to a live birth. Coverage for infertility services provided to partners of persons who have successfully reversed a voluntary sterilization shall not be excluded. A contract shall not impose any restriction concerning the coverage of infertility services based on age. As used in this section: "Infertility" means a disease, condition, or status characterized by any of the following: (1) the inability to achieve a successful pregnancy based on a patient's medical, sexual, and reproductive history, age, physical findings, diagnostic testing, or any combination of those factors; (2) the need for medical intervention, including, but not limited to, the use of donor gametes or donor embryos in order to achieve a successful pregnancy either as an individual or with a partner; or (3) in patients having regular, unprotected intercourse and without any known etiology for either partner suggestive of impaired reproductive ability, evaluation should be initiated at 12 months when the female partner is under 35 years of age and at 6 months when the female partner is 35 years of age or older. Nothing in this definition shall be used to deny or delay treatment to any individual, regardless of relationship status or sexual orientation. "Treatment of infertility" means the recommended treatment plan or prescribed procedures, services, and medications directed by a licensed physician for infertility as defined in this section. The benefits shall be provided to the same extent as for other medical conditions under the contract, except that the services provided for in this section shall be performed at facilities that conform to standards established by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine or the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The same copayments, deductibles and benefit limits shall apply to the diagnosis and treatment of infertility pursuant to this section as those applied to other medical or surgical benefits under the contract. Infertility resulting from a voluntary unreversed sterilization procedure may be excluded under the contract if the voluntary unreversed sterilization is the sole cause of infertility, provided, however, that coverage for infertility services shall not be excluded if the voluntary sterilization is successfully reversed. Nothing in this section shall preclude the carrier from performing utilization review, including periodic review of the medical necessity of a particular service, provided all utilization review decisions are consistent with American Society for Reproductive Medicine guidelines. L.2017, c.48, s.7; amended 2023, c.258, s.7.