Trump wants to make IVF free. Democrats, Republicans and experts are dubious

• Former President Donald Trump says that he wants to make in vitro fertilization treatments free for all women who need it.
• However, health care experts are skeptical Trump could implement such a policy through an executive action.
• Finding support in Congress, meanwhile, could be exceptionally difficult.

Former President Donald Trump says that he wants to make in vitro fertilization treatments free of cost, either by requiring insurance companies to cover the procedure or federally funding it.

"Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely," Trump said at a campaign rally in Michigan on Aug. 29.

Since then, neither Trump nor his campaign has offered details on how such a plan might be paid for. Still, his verbal support brought the fertility treatments to the center of a presidential race where both Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are vying for the votes of politically women.

But health care experts are skeptical that Trump could implement such a policy on his own. And winning support for free IVF among his fellow Republicans in Congress could prove exceptionally difficult.

"The ability of the executive to do this unilaterally is quite limited," said Alina Salganicoff, a senior vice president and the director of the Women's Health Policy Program at KFF.

Mandating that insurers pay for IVF would require legislation in Congress, Salganicoff said. Another potential option would be to convince a panel of experts to add IVF to the list of fully covered women's preventative services under the Affordable Care Act. This would pose several challenges, not least of which is that Trump has tried to repeal the ACA.

It would also be difficult for members of Congress to rationalize making a single treatment like