IVF Costs Soar
IVF Costs Soar – An analysis of government figures shows use of assisted reproduction technology plummeted immediately after the introduction of new Medicare rules in January.
Specialists say these have doubled patients’ out-of-pocket contributions to an average $2000 for one IVF cycle, putting the treatment beyond the means of many.
The rules, which impose new caps on safety net rebates, were intended to restrain doctors’ fees, which currently total about $7000 for each cycle.
But instead they had increased the proportion of the total cost met directly by people seeking the treatment, said Sandra Dill, chief executive of the patient group Access Australia Infertility Network.
”There are 1000 babies that won’t be born,” she said. ”It’s not as if IVF’s a hit-and-miss thing. It’s highly successful.”
For the main forms of IVF, the number of pregnancy attempts between January and June this year fell to 15,165, compared with 17,166 cycles over the same period last year.
Tags: Assisted Reproduction Technology, Attempts, Australia, Babies, Caps, Chief Executive, Dill, Doctors, Government Figures, Infertility, Infertility Network, Ivf, Medicare, Medicare Rules, Patient Group, pregnancy, Proportion, Rebates, Sandra, Soar
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