Georgia program
Preserving future fertility before treatment
Some Georgia insurance plans cover standard fertility preservation before treatment that could harm fertility.
What it is
Some Georgia insurance plans cover standard fertility preservation before treatment that could harm fertility.
The oncologist says whether preservation is possible and how much time treatment allows. Georgia's law covers insured policies issued or renewed after January 1, 2026, with one year of storage; a plan where the employer pays its own claims is outside it. Whether your policy has renewed yet decides if the law reaches it.
Eligibility rules
- HB 94 applies to qualifying policies issued or renewed after January 1, 2026. A renewal date can determine when the new benefit begins.
- Self-funded employer plans are outside the state mandate.
- State-employee and teacher plans are outside this rule, and the 2026 state Anthem plan does not cover egg or sperm freezing. Ask HR what your plan covers.
What you get
- Covered egg, sperm, embryo or ovarian-tissue preservation with normal plan cost sharing, subject to the mandate’s clinical and policy requirements.
- One year of covered gamete storage under the mandate.
What the help includes
- The plan’s ordinary cost sharing still applies. The written approval should identify procedures and storage rather than promising every fertility service.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the oncologist whether preservation fits your child before fertility-damaging treatment.
- Have ready: the oncology referral, fertility-risk note and your plan’s funding type and renewal date.
- Ask the specialist to check benefits and request the plan’s written approval.
Your oncologist and fertility specialist; Georgia insurance complaints: 800-656-2298
After you ask
- A denial may turn on plan applicability, timing or medical criteria. The clinician can explain whether an urgent appeal is appropriate before treatment starts.
Good to know
The insurer's name does not tell you whether the law applies; that depends on whether the employer buys the insurance or pays its own claims. One question to HR settles it.
Other details
- The oncologist decides what is feasible at the child’s age and treatment stage. Treatment timing and available preservation methods need an individual clinical discussion.
- The 2025 ASCO guideline recognizes ovarian-tissue freezing as an established option for some children before puberty. Testicular-tissue freezing before puberty remains experimental and is offered in a clinical trial. Age alone does not establish puberty or suitability. The oncology and fertility teams assess safety and timing, and the plan separately checks coverage.
- After treatment, the survivorship team can discuss fertility effects and whether any assessment or preservation option is relevant. A treatment-phase answer alone does not make preservation an urgent task for every family.
Official sources
“Could our child benefit from fertility preservation before treatment, and would our plan cover it? What are the benefits, drawbacks and timing tradeoffs, and would you help us request approval if you recommend it?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand future fertility options while the team plans safe treatment.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Ask the oncologist now and get the plan's renewal date from your employer's benefits office.
Your social worker
The social worker arranges the urgent referral and checks the policy date.
The care team
Explains the options and timing and requests approval.
- Who decides
- The insurer decides coverage under Georgia law.
- Ask the care team
- “Does fertility preservation apply for our child before the first fertility-damaging drug, and how much time do we have?”
How to apply
First step: Ask the oncologist whether preservation fits your child before the first fertility-damaging drug. If it does, the specialist asks the plan to approve it.
- Ask the oncologist this week whether preservation applies before the first fertility-damaging drug.
- Get the plan's renewal date and funding type from HR.
Where it starts: Specialist requests authorization; OCI for a Georgia-issued plan's denial
What to gather
- Plan renewal date and funding type from your employer's benefits office
- Oncology referral and fertility-risk note
How long: Ask now, before the first alkylating drug. The oncologist can explain how much time your child has.
What a yes looks like
An approval naming the covered services and storage.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask whether it was policy applicability (self-funded, renewal date) or medical. Urgent appeal. Georgia's insurance regulator 800-656-2298 for a Georgia-issued plan.
Watch out
- Self-funded plans and the state employee plan are excluded. Ask your employer's benefits office.
- The law reaches a policy only from its first renewal after January 1, 2026. Ask the plan the renewal date.
- The question to the oncologist comes first: whether preservation is possible at your child's age and stage, and how much time there is.
- HB94 excludes plans established or maintained by the state or its political subdivisions and self-funded plans. It does not compel an SHBP option to cover preservation. The 2026 Anthem HRA booklet excludes egg and sperm preservation for future conception; other options need their own booklet review.
Dates that change this
2026-01-01: Applies to policies issued or renewed after January 1, 2026.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 10, 2026.
What it is worth
Applicable plans cover standard egg, sperm, embryo or ovarian-tissue preservation and one year of gamete storage, with normal cost sharing and clinical and policy conditions. Prepubertal testicular-tissue freezing remains experimental.
- $1 — Gamete storage covered
Legal protection: Coverage of standard fertility preservation before fertility-damaging treatment (policies issued or renewed after 2026-01-01)
What it costs the family: Normal plan cost sharing.
The eligibility facts, as published
- State regulated plan
- yes
- Policy issued or renewed after
- 2026-01-01
- Excludes
- self-funded plans; state plans
Decisions this site cannot make: Insurer approval under HB 94
Expect friction on: Renewal date · Days-long clinical application period
The trap: The law reaches a policy only from its first renewal after January 1, 2026. Ask the plan the renewal date.
Where I read this
- HB 94 (2025) fertility preservation coverage, as signed — Office of the Governor of Georgia, read September 7, 2026
- File a Consumer Insurance Complaint — Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance, read August 27, 2026
- SHBP 2026 Anthem HRA SPD — shbp.georgia.gov, read September 10, 2026
- SHBP 2026 Anthem HRA SPD — shbp.georgia.gov, read September 10, 2026
- Georgia HB94 enrolled text — www.legis.ga.gov, read September 10, 2026
