Medicaid/fertility services

AN ACT Relating to providing coverage for standard fertility 1
preservation services for medicaid enrollees; adding a new section to 2
chapter 74.09 RCW; and creating new sections. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that:5
(a) Young Washingtonians who are diagnosed with cancer often 6
learn, shortly before they are to begin the medical treatment needed 7
to save their lives, that the treatment may result in infertility, 8
leaving them only a small window of time in which to decide whether 9
to undergo medically necessary efforts to preserve their ability to 10
have biological families; 11
(b) Treatments including chemotherapy, radiation, and stem cell 12
transplants can result in immediate sterility and subsequent 13
infertility for cancer patients, and less frequently, for those with 14
other diseases or conditions requiring these medical interventions, 15
limiting patients' ability to have biological families;16
(c) Providing access to fertility preservation services is the 17
only available means to protect a patient's reproductive cells, both 18
eggs and sperm, and remove the impossible choice between life-saving 19
treatments and potential future parenthood; and 20
S-3952.1
SENATE BILL 6202
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Frame, Cleveland, Alvarado, Conway, Dhingra, Harris,
Lovelett, Nobles, Riccelli, Saldaña, Slatter, Trudeau, Valdez, and C.
Wilson
Read first time 01/16/26. Referred to Committee on Health & Long-
Term Care.
p. 1 SB 6202
(d) Fertility preservation is medically necessary to ameliorate 1
the side effect of infertility and is considered part of the standard 2
of care for age-eligible patients. 3
(2) The legislature, therefore, intends to provide coverage for 4
standard fertility preservation services. 5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 74.09 6
RCW to read as follows: 7
(1) Beginning January 1, 2027, the authority shall provide 8
coverage under this chapter for all expenses related to standard 9
fertility preservation services. 10
(2) The authority or any medicaid managed care organization may 11
not include: 12
(a) Any exclusions, limitations, or other restrictions on 13
coverage of fertility medications that are different from those 14
imposed on other prescription medications; or 15
(b) Any benefit maximums, waiting periods, or other limitations 16
on coverage for standard fertility preservation services that are 17
different from those imposed upon benefits for services not related 18
to infertility. 19
(3) For the purposes of this section, "standard fertility 20
preservation services" means medically necessary procedures to 21
preserve fertility that are consistent with established medical 22
practices or professional guidelines published by the American 23
society of clinical oncology or the American society for reproductive 24
medicine for a person who has a medical condition or is expected to 25
undergo medication therapy, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or 26
other medical treatment that is recognized by medical professionals 27
to cause a risk of impairment to fertility. 28
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. This act shall be known as the medically 29
necessary fertility preservation act.30
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p. 2 SB 6202