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Podcast: Capital Public Radio: Insight Podcast
Episode:

California’s Fertility Preservation Law for Cancer Patients
Category: News & Politics
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2025-04-03 15:00:00
Description:

There is a California law requiring most health insurers to cover fertility preservation before medical treatments that can cause infertility. Unfortunately learning about coverage is not a guarantee.

SB 600

Five years ago, California passed a law largely geared to help cancer patients preserve their fertility before going through treatments that can cause infertility - like chemotherapy. Senate Bill 600 requires the majority of health insurers to cover procedures - like egg and sperm banking - which can normally cost thousands of dollars out of pocket. But Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez faced a hard lesson while going through breast cancer treatment last year. Learning about the law is not a guarantee and she found out when it was too late. Today we’re going to spend time learning about SB 600. Anthony Portantino is a former state lawmaker and author behind the law. He joins us about what inspired this legislation, and why Medi-Cal recipients are not included in coverage.

Raising Awareness and Evaluating SB 600's Effectiveness

We’ll also meet fertility advocates who are working to close the information gap of SB 600, so that cancer patients know about options that can be the deciding factor in having a biological child. Joyce Reinecke is the Executive Director of the nonprofit Alliance for Fertility Preservation. Dr. Irene Su is the Director of the Oncofertility Program at UC San Diego and has been researching the effectiveness of this law.
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