New California IVF law brings hope to families

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For five years, 39-year-old Sarah Jolie has been trying to start a family with her husband. After both taking part in numerous tests, the Central Coast couple are yet to receive a clear answer to their infertility issues.

Throughout the ordeal, which included three failed IVF attempts, Jolie said she felt rejected. The insurance also refused to cover any of her fertility tests or appointments, but did cover her husband’s urologist visit.

• Jolie: “I got a lot of comments in the community, even from a lot of men, like, ‘You should have children. It’s the greatest privilege.’ But our society also doesn’t support women and getting the health care they need to be able to achieve that. It feels like a slap in the face that I didn’t expect.”

For Californians like Jolie struggling with infertility, some support is on the way. From January 1, some health insurance will be necessary to cover infertility treatment and IVF servicesoffering millions of Californians a chance to have a baby, writes CalMatters’ Kristen Huang.

The new law requires large group health insurance companies — employers with at least 100 workers — to cover fertility services and does not apply to people who get their insurance through religious employers, federally regulated plans or Medi-Cal. The law also amends the definition of infertility to include same-sex couples and single people, opening fertility benefits to those individuals.

In the U.S., approximately 9% of men and 11% of women of reproductive age struggle with infertility, and treatment can be expensive: One IVF cycle costs an average of $24,000, according to a 2010 study. For a successful pregnancy, which often takes several attempts, the average cost is $61,000. Those high price tags are the main reason people can’t access care, said Alize Powell, director of government affairs at RESOLVE: The National Fertility Association.

• Powell: “Infertility is an illness and should be covered by insurance just like any other illness or ailment that people have.”

Read more here.

This year, Californians witnessed the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires; immigration actions and President Donald Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard; the Proposition 50 special election and many other events large and small. Throughout this tumultuous year, CalMatters photographers and visual journalists have been on the ground capturing images and illustrating complex issues affecting the state.

To see the photos that define California in 2025, see the team’s visual essayas well as their collection of images celebrating a decade of photojournalism for CalMatters 10th Anniversary.

2025 more reflections: This year has also seen changes related to California’s homelessness and housing crises, including cities getting more aggressive with encampment cleanups and state lawmakers approving a measure to exempt certain apartment buildings from environmental review.

Read the first installments of annual CalMatters stories in which Marissa Kendall and Ben Christopher summarize the state of the state unemployment and housing policies, resp.

Although 2025 marks the third year that local organizers have organized the San Marcos Holiday Festival in San Diego County, the increased activity of immigration authorities created an atmosphere of heightened caution in the predominantly Hispanic, low-income community, CalMatters’ Deborah Brennan reports.

Sponsored by the civic organization Universidad Popular in partnership with Restoration Abbey, a local church, the event includes a neighborhood procession, or posada, that reenacts the pilgrimage of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. As locals gather for the Posada Comunitaria event, however, volunteers keep an eye out for immigration agents — highlighting the challenges some community leaders face when planning cultural celebrations under the current Trump administration.

San Marcos appears to be responsible for only a few of the immigration arrests in the San Diego area, but there have been more arrests this year: Since September 2023, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested at least 38 people — but 20 of those arrests were between June and October 2025, according to a CalMatters analysis of federal data provided by ICE.

Despite the concerns, the organizers decided to go ahead with the show.

• Alex Aguaspriest of Restoration Abbey: “Posada’s practice really invites people to think about… what does it mean to be on the edge and seek refuge and shelter at this moment?” Plus, we just get to celebrate.”

Read more here.

Beginning in the fall of 2026, all California students will be eligible for California State University’s Automatic Admissions Program, which allows students to be provisionally admitted to at least one of the 16 participating California state campuses. Read more In Mickel of Zintes of CalMtters.