President Trump plans to announce a policy proposal on Thursday to make in vitro fertilization more accessible, according to several administration officials, the first concrete step from the White House on an issue that Mr. Trump repeatedly promised to address on the campaign trail.
The White House will issue guidance on what it is calling an employer benefit option to encourage employers to offer I.V.F. and broader infertility coverage directly to workers, in the same way they would with vision or dental coverage, one White House official familiar with the matter said.
Mr. Trump is expected to make the announcement from the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon.
It is unclear whether the new guidance will substantively affect how many employers will choose to offer such benefits. I.V.F. typically costs $15,000 to $20,000 for a single cycle. The White House will not be providing any subsidies for employers that offer the coverage, and there will be no mandate that they participate.
The development comes after months of deliberations on I.V.F., an issue that has highlighted tensions among the president’s base. Since he took office, Mr. Trump’s administration has debated how to handle the issue, meeting regularly with leading proponents of I.V.F. and also with Christian conservatives who have deep moral and ethical concerns with the procedure, which often involves discarding human embryos.
The administration issued an executive order on I.V.F. soon after Mr. Trump took office, promising to lower costs and make the procedure more accessible. The order gave no specifics on how the administration would achieve that goal but promised that a detailed report with recommendations on the topic would be prepared by late May.
Five months later, the report has not been released.
Specific instructions for employers will be posted on the Labor Department’s website immediately after the announcement, the official said. By offering infertility coverage separately from the major medical insurance package, the person said, the White House expected more small businesses to be able to provide the benefit.
Only 1 in 4 companies with more than 200 employees currently covers I.V.F.
Representatives of the I.V.F. industry wanted the White House to expand access to the procedure to as many Americans as possible. I.V.F. skeptics, meanwhile, pushed for an alternative approach in line with the Make American Healthy Again movement, called restorative reproductive medicine, which addresses what proponents call the “root causes” of infertility and leaves I.V.F. as a last resort.
Mr. Trump did not plan to mention restorative reproductive medicine during his address on Thursday, the White House official said.
Margot Sanger-Katz contributed reporting.
Caroline Kitchener is a Times reporter, writing about the American family.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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