Fewer IVF babies are now being born in Australia. Research which was presented at the World Congress of Human Reproduction identified the main determinant of this decrease as being the change in IVF funding made by the Australian government. The Health Insurance Amendment (Extended Medicare Safety Net) which was introduced last year reduced the amount of money refunded to most IVF couples. The researchers proposed that because couples are now incurring greater out of pocket expenses, they are less likely to undergo IVF therapy.
In the first year since the amendments were introduced there was a total of 7000 fewer IVF cycles conducted in Australia. This equates to a 16% decrease. This in turn has resulted in 1,500 fewer IVF babies being born (compared to historical data).
Have the funding changes made you less likely to consider IVF therapy?
Are you less likely to commit to repeated IVF cycles?
