http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117....html?from=rss
Costello rules out IVF fund cuts
From: By Caroline Overington
January 02,2006.
IVF patients and their clinicians have welcomed Peter Costello's first gift of the new year - the decision not to limit funding for fertility treatment, even for women over the age of 43.
The federal Treasurer pre-empted a report on IVF costs commissioned by his colleague, Health Minister Tony Abbott, by declaring that the debate over IVF funding, which costs the community more than $78 million a year, "is over".
"I'm not going to revisit it," Mr Costello said.
IVF Australia clinician Ric Porter said the news meant patients and their doctors were the ones making the decisions about treatment "without politicians trying to interfere".
The debate over IVF funding flared last June when Mr Abbott proposed placing limits on the number of cycles the Government would fund.
Women over 43 would be reimbursed for a total of three cycles, while younger women would be funded for three cycles every year.
The recommendation caused a storm of protest, prompting Mr Abbott to scrap the plan, while also asking a six-person committee to analyse ways to cut the cost of IVF.
Last month, an article by researchers from the University of NSW, published online in the Medical Journal of Australia, found that assisted reproduction such as IVF and related procedures accounted for less than 1 per cent of the $8.6 billion Medicare benefits paid in 2004.
The report said the average cost of a live birth through IVF was $32,903, while the average cost for women aged 42 or older was $182,794.
All IVF treatment cycles attract a Medicare rebate, with more than half of the $6000 to $9000 in direct costs covered by the Medicare Benefits Scheme or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Mr Abbott's committee, whose work now appears in vain, was headed by Ian Fraser, professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Sydney.
Other experts on the committee included journalist Bettina Arndt; the Government's chief medical officer, John Horvath; Australian Medical Association representative Andrew Pesce; and gynaecologists Terry McGee and Peter Illingworth.
Neither Mr Abbott nor Professor Fraser were available for comment yesterday.
Mr Porter said IVF patients and their clinicians should decide when IVF treatment should cease.
Last year, the IVF clinic at Westmead Hospital decided not to treat women aged 43 or older because of the low success rate.
"They made that decision based on the success they were having in that area," he said.
"We declined to make a similar decision, because our success rates for women in that age group are much better.
"The point is, we know when our success rates are low and when a patient should or shouldn't have treatment.
"The question we should be asking is: what value will the community get from medical treatment? If I make a baby, and it costs me around $180,000, that sounds like a lot of money, but I can expect that child to produce 75 years of service to the community, so it seems like a good deal to me."
Happy New Year! 
