All Access

San Diego

A picture of the San Diego skyline with the letters SAN.

blue

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting San Diego.

Axios San Diego

Standard

A picture of the San Diego skyline with the letters SAN

Axios San Diego Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

San Diego Alerts

Alert

San Diego Members

Membership

The water wasn't too "ruff" for two of San Diego's best surfers at the Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge that aired over this past weekend.

Catch up quick: Faith, left, a 12-year-old rescue pit bull terrier, and Derby, an 11-year-old goldendoodle, took home 1st and 2nd place, respectively, at the dog surfing contest in Huntington Beach.

Faith did a 180-degree spin trick that handler James Wall says is "something you see in pro surfing with a human," but rarely with a dog.

Derby's blue mohawk (made with non-irritating, vegan dye) matches the hairstyle of his handler, Kentucky Gallahue.

What to watch: If you missed the Western Regional contest, you can still watch these pups shred on the local CW channel (8.2) Saturday, Aug. 12 at 10:30am.

San Diego dogs surf in style at Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge

The pit bull terrier and goldendoodle landed impressive tricks while surfing in style.

Dogs surf in Huntington Beach as part of the Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge on June 23

The water wasn&#x27;t too &quot;ruff&quot; for two of San Diego&#x27;s best surfers at the Purina Pro Plan <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Incredible Dog Challenge" data-vars-click-url="https://www.purina.com/pro-plan/incredible-dog-challenge" data-vars-content-id="a571a52c-c53a-4b2f-a3b3-ba5672c43928" data-vars-headline="San Diego dogs surf in style at Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.purina.com/pro-plan/incredible-dog-challenge" target="_blank">Incredible Dog Challenge</a> that aired over this past weekend.Catch up quick: <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Faith" data-vars-click-url="https://www.instagram.com/faithsurfs/?hl=en" data-vars-content-id="a571a52c-c53a-4b2f-a3b3-ba5672c43928" data-vars-headline="San Diego dogs surf in style at Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.instagram.com/faithsurfs/?hl=en" target="_blank">Faith</a>, left, a 12-year-old rescue pit bull terrier, and <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Derby" data-vars-click-url="https://www.instagram.com/derbycalifornia/?hl=en" data-vars-content-id="a571a52c-c53a-4b2f-a3b3-ba5672c43928" data-vars-headline="San Diego dogs surf in style at Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.instagram.com/derbycalifornia/?hl=en" target="_blank">Derby</a>, an 11-year-old goldendoodle, took home 1st and 2nd place, respectively, at the dog surfing contest in Huntington Beach.

Things to Do

Sports

A new, more expansive definition of "infertility" could bring help to hopeful LGBTQ+ and single parents in California and beyond.

Why it matters: Redefining the condition could lead to broader insurance coverage of fertility services like egg freezing and in vitro fertilization for all people who need help starting families — not just heterosexual couples.

It could also bolster ongoing legislative efforts to make fertility coverage more inclusive in states like California, where some prior attempts have failed.

Driving the news: The American Society for Reproductive Medicine redefined infertility to include people who need medical intervention, such as donor eggs or sperm, to achieve pregnancy.

It's no longer limited to when a man and a woman can't get pregnant after a year of unprotected intercourse or intrauterine insemination — or six months for women over 35.

The updated language applies to anyone who needs help having children, regardless of relationship status, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Between the lines: "There's been a real issue with getting access to treatment for certain causes of infertility including for single people [and] people in same-sex relationships … so it became clear that we need to explicitly address that," ASRM spokesperson Sean Tipton told Axios.

Zoom in: California only requires insurers to offer infertility treatment coverage, but that does not include IVF coverage, according to infertility advocacy group Resolve.

Religious organizations and employers who are self-insured are exempt.

Meanwhile, the state does require health insurance companies to cover the cost of fertility preservation procedures, which is particularly helpful for cancer patients.

What we're watching: While the new "infertility" definition creates one avenue to more inclusive coverage, California legislators are pursuing another.

State lawmakers are considering a bill that would require health insurance plans to cover the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility services, including IVF.

It also expands the definition of infertility to include coverage for LGBTQ+ individuals and surrogates.

"Historically, many cannot afford the out-of-pocket costs of treatment, and LGBTQ+ individuals have been largely excluded in California due to a hetero-normative definition of infertility," state Senator Caroline Menjivar said in a statement.

Yes, but: Previous legislative attempts to expand coverage to include IVF, diagnosis and treatment for single persons, same-sex couples and transgender people stalled.

Zoom out: As of now, 21 states plus Washington, D.C., require some workplace health plans to cover at least some form of fertility coverage. Of those, only eight states have policies inclusive of LGBTQ+ communities and single parents, according to Betsy Campbell, chief engagement officer at Resolve.

State of play: Despite the growing interest in fertility care — and more employers offering fertility benefits to stay competitive in the labor market — insurance coverage for the often-expensive services remains limited.

IVF is pricey, with the average cost of one cycle is $12,400, according to ASRM.

Still, several studies suggest fertility insurance coverage does not significantly increase the cost of medical plans.

What they're saying: A more inclusive definition of infertility is "a game-changer," because a number of insurance plans rely on the ASRM definition of what's a disease to determine coverage, infertility specialist Lucky Sekhon told Axios.

With this update, "insurance companies can't discriminate. … It gives people ammunition to fight policies for more coverage," she says.

San Francisco

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting San Francisco.

Axios San Francisco Thought Bubble

San Francisco Alerts

Axios San Francisco

San Francisco Members

Infertility treatments could become more inclusive, accessible for Californians

Redefining the condition could lead to broader insurance coverage of fertility services like IVF.

A new, more expansive definition of &quot;<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="infertility" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/04/03/global-infertility-report-who" data-vars-content-id="c64d0d10-3f5e-4a6f-bb13-ffe0ca1edfd1" data-vars-headline="Infertility treatments could become more inclusive, accessible for Californians" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/04/03/global-infertility-report-who" target="_self">infertility</a>&quot; could bring help to hopeful LGBTQ+ and single parents in California and beyond.Why it matters: Redefining the condition could lead to broader insurance coverage of fertility services like egg freezing and in vitro fertilization for all people who need help starting families — not just heterosexual couples.

Carly Mallenbaum

Featured stories

Infertility treatments could become more inclusive, accessible for Californians

San Diego dogs surf in style at Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge