Costly Ivf Scheme Takes Toll On Couples
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday August 11, 1989
Sandra and Brian Dill have just refinanced the mortgage on their St Clair home - but interest rates had little to do with it.
For the past three years, Sandra has been on the in-vitro fertilisation program at Royal North Shore Hospital. About $12,000 and eight unsuccessful attempts later, she and her husband Brian, a 34-year-old primary school teacher, have finally given up.
Sandra said her career as an accountant had been "put on hold".
"Sometimes you think of all the other things you could have done with the money - but it's a question of priorities - we want a child," she said.
The Department of Community Services and Health puts the cost of each IVF child at $40,500.
Australia spends $30 million a year on IVF, of which $17 million comes from government funds, $7 million from private health insurance, and $6 million from patients. A funding review is being carried out by the Commonwealth Department of Community Services and Health.
Costs vary according to the tests required, but out-of-pocket expenses for one attempt can amount to $1,000. The success rate for an attempt, if three embryos are transferred, is 20 per cent.
Nonetheless, an increasing number of couples are willing to make the sacrifices. Statistics show that one in every 200 babies born in Australia is conceived artificially.
June and David Smith haven't taken a holiday for five years as a result of their involvement in the IVF program at Westmead Hospital. Recently, they traded their Holden Commodore for a "bomb".
"We just couldn't afford the repayments," June said. "In a way we're lucky- I know one couple who sold their home to continue."
A free IVF clinic at King George V hospital, which has no waiting list at present, seems to offer the ideal solution for low-income patients. But many patients are reluctant to undergo the procedure in a "no-frills" atmosphere.
Paula Miller, 23, who attended the clinic during her first unsuccessful attempt, found the egg retrieval process too painful without a general anaesthetic.
She and her husband Ian, a truck driver, are now saving so she can attend a private clinic.
Sandra Dill, who was forced to refinance her mortgage to pay for the IVF program, said: "At present the Government seems to view it as an elective procedure - like cosmetic surgery.
"Childbirth is also an elective procedure if it comes to that. Bob Hawke promised universal health insurance. IVF patients are going to hold him to that."
© 1989 Sydney Morning Herald