Should the health service pay for IVF treatment?

Globally the funding of infertility treatment varies greatly between different countries. So who should fund IVF treatment? The health service or the couple themselves?

The World Health Organisation recognises infertility as a disease that is affecting a growing number of people. I wanted to know what it was like for those women who had wanted to have children but who were now past their natural reproductive age and were childless. I was hoping that the majority would be in a good place, happy with their lives. But we found that half felt negatively and the thought of the children they never had was still very much in their minds. We are hoping to do the same study to ask how men feel.

One of the biggest barriers to having infertility treatment is money. In our childless survey, finances was one of the top reasons why women stopped having treatment.

The average cost of an IVF cycle in Europe is euro 4-5,000. But in the UK the cost can reach up to £8000 and even more if the clinic adds-on extra treatments. In the USA, one cycle of IVF starts at $12,000 without medications and tests. Recently reported in Fast Company, they say that the average price for IVF in the USA is $61,000 with a 30% chance of success.

There is some state funding in most EU countries with the exception of Ireland and Lithuania. Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Slovenia are reputed to have the most generous reimbursement policies in Europe, with almost full coverage for up to six cycles. Other countries fund about 90% of IVF including France and Greece. Germany reimburses 50% of IVF/ICSI costs for up to three cycles. Bulgaria, Romania and Spain fund around  20-30%. Some countries impose age and relationship status rules. In France, the government will fund up to four cycles in women up to the age of 45 but single and same sex couples are not eligible.

In the UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guidelines states that women aged under 40 should be offered 3 cycles of IVF treatment on the NHS if: they’ve been trying to get pregnant through regular unprotected sex for 2 years. they’ve not been able to get pregnant after 12 cycles of artificial insemination. And women aged 40-42 should be offered one cycle. But in real terms this rarely happens. It all depends on where the couple live. Some health services in the UK will not fund even one cycle of IVF.

In the USA very few insurance companies or employers fund IVF. In the article in Fast Company they discuss the monthly payment plans that are springing up to help couples pay for expensive IVF treatment. They report on Future Fertility who have launched a Grandbaby plan where grandparents can contribute to the cost of IVF to help create their grandchildren.

Israel has one of the worlds most generous IVF funding strategies. They will fund treatment for any Israeli women under 45 until she has two children with her current partner, irrespective of her marital status or sexual orientation. As a result, Israel has one of the most intensive use of IVF treatment.

I went through five years of treatment, and would not have been able to have afforded the expensive bill. I was lucky that I got most of my treatment free but it gives me pain when I think of those who cannot even try for a family because they cannot afford it.

Do you think infertility is a disease? Do you think that there should be government funding for IVF treatment? If so, how many cycles? What do you think about using one of the credit companies? What do you think about those people who remain childless because they cannot afford IVF treatment?

Read More:

European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology – The funding of IVF treatment. Fact sheet number 4, 2017

Image credit – https://fertilityroad.com/british-fertility-society-responds-ivf-funding-report/