Donald Trump is once again breaking one of his campaign promises he made during the 2024 Presidential election, and this time an IVF pledge. According to the Washington Post’s report on Sunday, the White House does not require health providers to cover insurance pay for IVF or in vitro fertilization. It is to be noted that in order to mandate this coverage, an act of Congress is needed.
However, as per insiders, the Trump administration is not planning on asking legislators to draft a bill that would mandate IVF coverage. In addition, they also don’t intend to coerce insurance providers into covering IVF costs.
This is a striking contrast to what the U.S. President pledged during his campaign trail last year. In an interview in August 2024, Donald Trump said, “We are going to be paying for that treatment.”
“I’m announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment.”
Trump, who claimed to be the “father of IVF,” stated last year that the simple reason behind this policy he would create was “more babies” in America. He told NBC, “Under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment. We’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”
Initially, it seemed like he was truly interested in making the change, when in February, a month after taking the office, he signed an executive order. The President directed his domestic policy council to make recommendations by May. However, with the deadline long gone, advocates for better IVF coverage were left wondering what’s going on. Well, they finally have an answer.
Oh look, another Trump lie. This time, IVF. pic.twitter.com/9d2STrakfb
— Maine (@TheMaineWonk) August 3, 2025
In an interview with the Post, Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at KFF, said. “There were no details provided by Trump during the campaign as to how this would work, who would be eligible, and how it would relate to health insurance coverage.”
As it turns out, Trump’s vague campaign promise did not include a proper structure to materialize it. A source familiar with the discussion pointed out, “How do you do this without burdening health insurers? That’s the key question they’ve been wrestling with. It appears for now that they’re not going to go there.”
In February, when Trump signed the executive order, he acknowledged how expensive IVF is: per cycle, it could cost between $12,000 and $25,000. Needless to say, one would need to go through multiple cycles before it could result in a successful pregnancy. For now, however, there seems to be no solid plan by the Trump administration to provide better IVF coverage.
According to the Post, the White House intends to redirect federal funds towards an “infertility training center,” cutting some programs related to providing birth control and tests for sexually transmitted diseases to low-income women. However, even if it is materialized, it would only teach women about combating infertility, and not actually cover their extremely expensive IVF cycles.
