California’s Senate Bill 729 (SB 729) is marking a historic shift in how fertility care is viewed in the workplace. The new law requires all fully insured large group health plans (100+ employees) in California to provide comprehensive fertility coverage. This includes medically necessary services such as diagnosis and treatment of infertility, up to three egg retrieval procedures per lifetime, and unlimited embryo transfers as appropriate.
The law also modernizes how infertility is defined—extending access to single individuals and LGBTQ+ couples. This signals meaningful progress in making fertility treatment more inclusive and affordable for diverse families.
For employers, especially those with a California-based workforce, this represents a major compliance checkpoint—and a meaningful step toward health equity. Fertility care, once seen as a luxury, is now being recognized as a necessary part of reproductive health.
However, SB 729 does not apply to:
- Self-funded employer plans
- Small groups (under 100 employees)
- Religious employers
- Dental- or vision-only plans
- Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program)
With so many open questions around implementation, many employers are taking this moment to reassess whether their family-building benefits truly reflect the needs of their workforce.
Fertility Coverage ≠ Family-Building Support
Even with this progress, SB 729 only addresses one part of the story.
While IVF coverage opens doors for many employees, it’s far from the full picture. For a growing number of people, IVF isn’t the path they choose—or even consider.
Some have already walked the fertility journey and are now exploring adoption or surrogacy. Others may never pursue clinical treatment at all. They may be LGBTQ+ couples looking into egg or sperm donation, or hopeful single parents turning to foster care. They may carry trauma, grief, or values that lead them to pursue alternative paths from the start.
Fertility treatment is one lane. But family-building is an entire highway.
What Today’s Benefits Plans Are Missing
The emotional and financial toll of IVF is well-documented—but often, what’s overlooked is the toll of navigating any family-building path without guidance.
Many employees:
- Don’t know where to begin when pursuing adoption, foster care, surrogacy, or egg donor journeys
- Get overwhelmed by the legal complexities and unfamiliar processes
- Make costly missteps—choosing the wrong provider, missing deadlines, or paying unnecessary fees without expert guidance
- Miss out on grants, tax credits, or reimbursement programs simply because they’re unaware they exist
- Walk away entirely without a clear plan—emotionally and financially exhausted before they even get started
When benefit offerings are focused solely on clinical fertility services or a standalone reimbursement without journey navigation or personalized support, employers risk leaving these individuals behind.
Employers of Choice Think Bigger
California may be leading the charge with SB 729, but employers worldwide are taking notice—and asking what it really means to be inclusive.
Adding IVF coverage is a step. But ensuring every path to parenthood is acknowledged and supported? That’s the leap forward.
This doesn’t require an overhaul. It means complementing fertility care with meaningful, human-centered support for:
- Adoption
- Foster care
- Surrogacy
- Egg donation
- Family-building envisioning, decision-making, and financial planning
Today’s employees—especially younger generations delaying parenthood—are comparing benefit packages more carefully than ever. They’re looking for employers who offer flexibility, inclusivity, and real guidance, not just reimbursement dollars or one-size-fits-all solutions.
When employers offer support that reflects the real journeys people take, not just the ones most often talked about, they create loyalty, trust, and belonging. And in today’s workplace, that matters more than ever.
Low-Cost. High Impact. Long-Term Value.
Adding family-building guidance doesn’t have to break your benefits budget. It just has to meet people where they are.
California employers navigating SB 729 compliance, and companies across the globe, have a chance to think differently. Not just about what benefits to offer, but how those benefits feel when employees actually try to use them.
This is what makes the difference between a policy and a promise.
The Bigger Picture
Family-building doesn’t start with a diagnosis.
And it certainly doesn’t end with PTO or a reimbursement.
It starts with a story—and employers have the chance to support every one.
