Updates on Massachusetts Surrogacy-Related Legislation
You may be wondering what’s going on with surrogacy-related legislation in Massachusetts? If you are an intended parent living in Massachusetts or your baby will be born in Massachusetts, you need to know the latest on what’s going on at the Massachusetts State House.
Massachusetts currently has an infertility insurance mandate on the books. It’s been around for over 20 years and requires coverage for many types of infertility for opposite-sex couples. Single people and same-sex couples can get coverage too, but may have to jump through a few hoops first.
But one thing that is glaringly missing from the law in Massachusetts is fertility preservation coverage. This means coverage for someone who is not yet infertile, but might become infertile following medical treatment. The most common example I use is a cancer patient who is going to undergo chemotherapy. The patient can have her eggs harvested and stored so that when her ovarian function is impaired by chemotherapy, she can turn to her frozen eggs for pregnancy through surrogacy. Same thing for a male cancer patient who needs to have his sperm stored, although he may not be looking at relying upon a surrogate.
The good news is that many insurance companies in Massachusetts voluntarily offer coverage for fertility preservation. The bad news is that not all do. An Act relative to preserving fertility would make this a requirement for all insurance companies. The bill in its current form would provide broad access to fertility preservation services, including long-term storage of eggs and sperm. One of the things that we couldn’t get accomplished in New Hampshire was implementing long-term storage for fertility preservation patients. Let’s hope this provision has better success in neighboring Massachusetts. The proposed Act recently had a hearing on October 8, 2019, so we are now eagerly awaiting the next steps for the bill.
Other news from Massachusetts relates to the Massachusetts Parentage Act. I’ve written before about how this Act impacts surrogacy in Massachusetts. Massachusetts is currently considered a “surrogacy friendly state”. But did you know that there are no actual laws on the books in Massachusetts that specifically authorize gestational surrogacy??!! Let’s change that by getting the Massachusetts Parentage Act passed. The bill had its hearing at the end of August, 2019 and we are awaiting the next steps.
Interested in becoming a parent through surrogacy? Contact us today to learn more through a free consult with Jennifer or Catherine.