Virginia plans could cover IVF, doulas and hearing aids

Virginia’s law directs the state to add seven kinds of care to comprehensive, fully insured individual and small-group plans. They include doula care; fertility diagnosis and treatment, with up to three lifetime cycles of assisted reproduction such as IVF; fertility preservation such as egg and sperm freezing when medical treatment could cause infertility; and hearing aids for all ages. It also adds donor breast milk, PCOS treatment, and care for PANDAS and PANS.

You would not need a separate application. The benefits would be included in qualifying plans bought directly, through Virginia’s marketplace, or from a small employer. Virginia applied for the 2028 plan year on May 6, 2026, but CMS announced a pause in benchmark-plan reviews and has not approved the proposal. The law allows the soonest later plan year CMS permits.

An actuarial review estimated the package at $7.42 per member per month, or 1.2% of allowed claims, and estimated a 0.03% to 5.44% premium increase. If approved, a May 2026 federal rule would require Virginia to cover the cost for marketplace enrollees beginning in 2028.

Del. Rip Sullivan, who chaired the Health Insurance Reform Commission, carried its bill. The House and Senate passed it with votes from both parties. Gov. Abigail Spanberger recommended an emergency clause for the bill’s other provisions; lawmakers accepted it, and she approved the law April 22.