Aussie budget cuts to ivf

[Roobie]

This story from The Australian Newspaper:

Budget to cut IVF subsidies

April 19, 2005
THE Federal Government will drastically limit the number of IVF treatments it will allow women to claim through Medicare in the forthcoming Budget, a leaked document shows.

The plan, which would save the Government $7 million a year, was confirmed by a Health Department official after the document was leaked to Channel 9 today.

Under the plan, women under 42 years of age would be able to claim rebates on three IVF cycles a year, and those over 42 would be allowed three cycles altogether.

There are no limits on the number of IVF cycles presently available to women.

Medicare subsidises about half the $8000 cost of each IVF cycle.

A director of the Melbourne IVF Clinic, Dr Lyndon Hale, said the costs of IVF treatment should be subsidised.

"The vast majority of patients have no say and are in circumstances beyond their control, and it is a medical treatment that deserves support through Medicare," Dr Hale told Nine.

"It is a little ironic that on one hand we have the $3000 being given to people whereas now we're talking about taking away benefits from a group that are infertile and in actual fact, want to have children."

Craig and Kellie Boyce had nine IVF procedures and faced out-of-pocket expenses of $36,000 – even with the rebate – to conceive their three children.

Ms Boyce said the new limits would have prevented her from conceiving.

"So what are we saying to people who are infertile," she said. "Sorry. Too Bad. And that's not fair.

"If they start putting limits on IVF, it almost seems to be anti-family so there's contradictory measures being put out by the Government."

Right To Life Australia president Margaret Tighe meanwhile said the Government was paying to create life through IVF while allowing Medicare to cover the costs of publicly-funded abortions.

"That's costing a lot of money every year and it seems very ironic that they can provide money to manufacture babies and they can also provide money to destroy babies," Mrs Tighe told said.

"It's crazy. There's 100,000 unborn children aborted each year in Australia.

"Medicare provides a lot of the funding for those ... and yet the Government is forking out to produce more children."

[Hayles]

yep there a pack of uno whats!!! It dosen't make any sense at all & now that big baby bonus has come in thers more & more ppl who don't want to be pg getting pg for the $$ trust me i know a few!! But the sad thing is even with that it dosen't cover the cost of infertiltiy without ivf! I really hope that this does not happen. Thanks for posting

[wombat woman]

I am seething about them doing this, and yeah what a contradiction, raise the baby bonus to 5 grand as an even bigger incentive to increase the population and at the same time cut subsidies to IVF. What a bunch of wankers.

I just typed out a huge rant which sort of went off on it's own tangent. I erased it before posting, then tried again and it naturally led to more ranting on touchy subjects that I don't want or need to stir up here. I don't want to go there as I *hate* talking politics because I get so riled up about it all Grrrrrrr. Thanks for posting.

[Sapphire Spirit]

That is just BLOODY ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!
I can't even find the words...............other than expletives!?!?!?

[Misjika]

This has totally made me angry and so sad and anxious as well. What a mixture.

The best thing is to start lobbying. E-mail Tony Abbot, the minister for women, the minister for everything. I know a bunch of ladies who have emailed A Current Affair, Sunrise and the newspapers etc.

Only two months to go until the budget, so the more mail they get, the more chance we have that they will reconsider.

[Roobie]

Thankyou to everyone for reading.
WombatWoman, I was so angry about it at the time I posted the article, I couldn't even comment!

I urge everyone to consider giving help infertile Australian residents before May 10 by writing to politicians and letting them know this discrimination is unacceptable. All for an ever increasing budget surplus. Even if you are pregnant, or have had children, & don't need to use ivf yourself, your support is welcomed as a friend, relative, member of the community, etc.

This link to Access explains what we can do:

http://www.access.org.au/information/news/letter_from_sandra_dill

Again, thank you.
Rhon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Update~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the S.M.H today:
Govt considering IVF limits: Costello
April 24, 2005 - 12:59PM

The federal government may limit the number of IVF treatments women can claim on Medicare, Treasurer Peter Costello says.

While the future of IVF was not in doubt, Mr Costello said the government was interested in funding treatments with the greatest chance of success.

There are currently no limits on the number of IVF cycles presently available to women, with Medicare subsidising about half the $8,000 cost of each IVF cycle.

Under changes rumoured to be under consideration by cabinet ahead of the May 10 Budget, women aged under 42 would be able to claim rebates on only three IVF cycles per year and those over 42 three cycles in total.

Mr Costello said clinical evidence shows IVF is less successful after a certain number of treatments, particularly for older women.

"Nobody's going to stop IVF treatment where IVF treatment has reasonable chances of success ... but there's no point in giving treatments where there is a very, very low chance of success," he told ABC television's Insiders program.

"There's been a lot of clinical discussion as to what the best chances of success are, and taxpayers dollars ought to be directed towards those.

"That's something the government looks at, obviously."

Medicare IVF benefits rose from $50 million in 2003 to $78.6 million last year after the safety net was introduced.

The changes are projected to save the government up to $7 million a year.
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This statement below passed along from another site, (the comments are not mine) says it all:

"And as to the question re that why should "the wider community" fund my need to have a child. As one lady on another board so eloquently put it( I thought it so good, I have quoted);

"My response is always HELLO "you" fund everyone's need to have a child, through maternal health centres, through public hospitals, through primary and high schools, through immunisation programmes etc, and the reason "you" do that is because my children will fund you in retirement."

[Roobie]

And there's more, sorry to keep ranting on it ladies, but it just drives me nuts!

This is part of the transcript from ABC TVs Insiders program mentioned in the article above. It highlights Peter Costello's ignorance on ivf treatments. Patients know when they have had enough treatment, not politicians. Some PCOSERS spend months/years trying to get diagnosed, how dare he suggest we get on with it, he has no idea!


INSIDERS TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/content/2005/s1352275.htm

Broadcast: 24/04/2005

Costello promises sustainable Budget
Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says the May Budget will be about sustainability, particularly economic growth that will benefit Australia in the long-term.


BARRY CASSIDY: On the question of sustainability, the IVF program costs around $7,000 a time, unlimited access is available at the moment. Is that something you will look at?

PETER COSTELLO: The thing about IVF, and I wouldn't see this in a financial sense, this is not a financial issue. There is a lot of debate about the medical outcomes. What is the optimal medical outcome? There is no point in giving treatments where there is a very, very low chance of success and so there has been a lot of clinical discussion as to what the best chances of success are and taxpayers dollars ought to be directed towards those. That's something that the Government looks at. Obviously we actually looked at it first back in 1996 to be frank, and it's something that the clinicians and Health Department always have under scrutiny.

BARRY CASSIDY: You sort of make a judgment that if after say three cases of IVF and without success, that's about it, you draw the line on it?

PETER COSTELLO: Well, I am not a doctor but doctors say that the older you are for the treatment, the less the chances of success and they also say that after a certain number of treatments, success rates decline and this is a matter to be discussed with the medical profession.

BARRY CASSIDY: Will you have to put an age limit on it?

PETER COSTELLO: Obviously there is. You know, as far as I know we don't treat 60-year-old women with IVF. I am not sure if we treat 50-year-olds. What is the reason, it's not a discriminatory reason, it's just that after certain ages these treatments aren't successful.

BARRY CASSIDY: You have prepared yourself for a debate on this no doubt because you offer a baby bonus to fertile couples but the people who need it most, infertile couples will be affected by it.

PETER COSTELLO: Nobody is going to stop IVF treatment. Nobody is going to stop IVF treatment where IVF treatment has reasonable chances of success. Let me make this absolutely clear. I think IVF is a wonderful technology, it has given a lot of people who wouldn't have been given the opportunity and I welcome it and I think it is wonderful. I know lots of people who have used it. The only point I would make now, it is better to get an IVF treatment in your 30s than in your 50s and your chances of success are going to be much greater. That's the only point I would make. I encourage people to get on with it earlier.

[Roobie]

News update:Thanks for reading.

From the Sydney Morning Herald-
IVF group slams government over funding
April 27, 2005 - 2:09PM

A fertility support network has criticised the government's claims IVF was a non-essential treatment, saying the health minister should "stay out of the bedroom" of Australian women.

ACCESS chief executive officer Sandra Dill said the government's admission it would limit funding for non-essential procedures such as IVF, was discriminatory to the one in six Australian couples who needed access to the treatment.

She said the government should stop intervening in the reproductive choices of women.

"I think women will be very concerned at the suggestion that the health minister should have some right in determining when they should have a child," she said.

"The (Health Minister Tony) Abbott and (Treasurer Peter) Costello performance in this past week has been pretty much a bad joke and something quite cruel as far as people who are trying to have a child, given that Mother's Day is coming two days before the Budget."

The government is considering placing a cap on the number of times a woman can claim IVF treatments from Medicare in a single year, saving $7 million.

Under the proposed changes, the government would limit the number of Medicare funded treatments women over 42 can claim to three, while treatments for younger women would be limited to three a year.

Currently, there are no restrictions on the number of cycles available to women, with Medicare subsidising about half the cost of each $8,000 IVF cycle.

Mr Abbott said IVF was not a lifesaving procedure and there should be a limit on what the government is prepared to spend.

However, Ms Dill believes infertility is not a choice, but a medical condition which could be effectively treated by IVF.

She said the cuts would lead to increased pressure on doctors and women to implant more embryos at each treatment, posing unnecessary risks on the woman and unborn child.

"Has minister Abbott undergone an IVF cycle? He certainly hasn't spoken to us and maybe he could go through a cycle with one of us, he might understand the pressures involved.

"Certainly if people know they can only afford three cycles and if they're forced to wait another year, further compromising their fertility because they'll be a year older, they will be asking their doctors can they have more embryos transferred," she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IVF plan angers Liberal women
April 27, 2005 - 6:14PM

Liberal Party women have demanded the government dump its plans to limit access to Medicare-funded IVF treatments, telling Canberra to stay out of the nation's bedrooms.

The NSW Liberal Women's Council said the government had no right to intervene in such a personal issue as a woman's right to have a child.

The council's 100 members unanimously passed a motion calling on federal cabinet to rethink plans to limit IVF access.

The government is considering placing a cap on the number of Medicare-funded IVF treatments to a total of three for women over 42 and three a year for women under that age.

The move would save the government just $7 million a year.

Health Minister Tony Abbott defended the planned cutbacks, saying the government could not afford to fund elective procedures.

"IVF treatment is not - it's very important, obviously - but it's not life saving treatment," he told ABC radio.

"There is a sense in which it is an elective procedure and there has to be some limit, speaking hypothetically, on what the government is prepared to spend on things which are non-essential."

His comments prompted widespread anger, even among Liberal voters.

NSW Liberal Party vice president and women's council member Rhondda Vanzella said the government should not impose limits on IVF.

She said her reasons for moving the motion were driven by her own experience as a mother - her daughter gave birth through IVF.

"I know exactly what's involved in it, and I just don't think that there should be any relationship between the government telling you what you can do and you can't do," she said.

She argued that infertility is a medical condition which should be treated as such and infertile couples should be allowed as many procedures as necessary.

Wednesday's move by the women's council won the support of IVF support group, ACCESS.

IVF support group ACCESS said the government should "stay out of the bedroom" of Australian women.
"I think women will be very concerned at the suggestion that the health minister should have some right in determining when they should have a child," chief executive Sandra Dill said.

Ms Dill said the motion proved the health minister lacked support within his own party.

"We just hope Minister Abbott and the Treasurer (Peter) Costello will listen to this," she said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Julia Gillard said Mr Abbott had been in trouble with his party's female members before she expected a similar reaction.

"There would be phones running hot in electorate offices today as women and their partners ring members of the Howard government and express their disgust at this decision and their disgust at minister Abbott's comments this morning," she told reporters.

Ms Gillard also said the health minister contradicted the treasurer's claims that the planned changes were not money-saving measures.

"Minister Abbott this morning told the truth, obviously he wasn't briefed on the Howard government lie in this area, and the truth is, this is all about cost-cutting," she said.

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If you want to vote against these changes in the SMHerald poll, please follow this link.
http://smh.com.au/polls/politics/form.html

There is also a poll at the Courier Mail, we need your help to vote against the proposed changes:
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au

Thanks.

[Hayles]

are they going to put a limit on how manu abortions medicare covers a year??
They say they want more children being born bring in the beby bonus to encourage more ppl to have them & in turn rubbing it out for the ppl who neds that funding the most it makes me sick!

[Ren]

As much as I hate what they're proposing, they should never touch abortion funding. I hate what they're planning to do to IVF, but I find cutting funds to abortion worse.

[Roobie]

PM weighs in on IVF - The Age newspaper
Athens, Greece
April 28, 2005 - 9:59AM

Prime Minister John Howard says the government's plan to limit funding for IVF treatment is not discriminatory, but nothing in life should be completely free anyway.

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has admitted the government would limit funding for non life-saving treatments, such as IVF.

But Howard, in Athens for talks with Greek prime minister Costas Karamanlis, said it was impractical to expect free unlimited treatments.

"Nothing in life is completely free and nor should it be," he told ABC radio.

"But when it comes to supporting IVF treatments, we have a safety net, Labor would abolish the safety net."

Currently, there are no restrictions on the number of IVF cycles available to women but the government was considering imposing caps on publicly funded treatments to women aged over 42 to three.

It would limit treatments for younger women to three a year.

Medicare subsidises about half the cost of each $8,000 IVF cycle, while the caps were predicted to save the government $7 million a year.
Howard said the caps would not discriminate against women and the medicare safety net would still save a lot of money for couples trying for an IVF baby.

"We won't be discriminating, bear in mind that we have a safety net that the Labor Party would abolish if they became government which great relieves the financial burden of people undergoing IVF treatment," he said.

"As a result of the Medicare safety net, people undergoing IVF are saved thousands of dollars a year.

"Ms Gillard and Mr Beazley would abolish the safety net, so they have no credibility on this matter."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My thoughts-
Hayles & Ren, the way I see it, if we allow this Government to make cuts to ivf on the basis that it is a non life threatening condition, then cuts to any care that is non essential will more than likely end up being in the same basket.

It does seem crazy to me that the same government will spend millions on populating Australia with people from other countries to address the future population and skills shortages, but they will not back an infertile woman already living here. Now don't get me started on what they pay themselves in salaries and Superannuation, now theres a few billion we could save right there!

How did Mr Howard miss this? Ivf is not free treatment now, you pay your bill upfront to the clinic, put in for a medicare rebate, and get a portion back depending on what services you had. In addition there are already many out of pocket expenses, hospital care and doctors visits, outrageously priced medications, private health fund expenses, leave from work can be required, travel costs for country patients, counselling costs for those coping with infertility, m/c and negative pregnancy tests, cancelled cycles etc. They do not pay for the entire cost of an ivf cycle for anyone, and no-one is asking them to do that. All we want is the right to unlimited ivf cycles, just mho but when to stop should be a decision made between patient and Doctor.

Thanks for your support.

[Roobie]

This email below recieved today via the POSAA mailing list, thankyou Sharon, it was so important I wanted to share it here. (I realise many of you are members, but if you are not already a member and would like to join)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pcos-australia/

http://www.posaa.asn.au

The email:
On behalf of POSAA President (Sharon Zammit)


As you may have heard, Federal Treasurer Peter Costello and Health
Minister Tony Abbott are considering limiting Medicare claims on IVF
cycles to three claims a year for women under the age of 42. For
women over 42, the Government is talking of restricting them to three
cycles in total.

This is a major issue for PCOS women as many of us need many IVF
cycles to achieve a pregnancy.

You are not powerless – this is what you can do.

1. Write to Prime Minister John Howard and tell him why it
should not happen.
His address:
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

2. Write to the Health Minister Tony Abbott and tell him why it
should not happen.
His address:
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Or email him: tony.abbott.mp@aph.gov.au

3. Write to your local Federal Member of Parliament or a
Coalition Senator in your state/territory.

4. Write letters to the editor of your newspaper.

5. Ring radio talkback and tell the hosts what you think and why.

Letters need to be received by April 30th.

For more information about what you can do to lobby against this
change, visit Access's website:
www.access.org.au/information/news/letter_from_sandra_dill

Do you want POSAA to actively do something – that is you, the members?
The media is a powerful medium. If we want media attention, we must
give them a powerful image.
Are you a mum, who's needed more than three cycles to achieve the
birth of your precious bundle? Would you like to tell your story to
the media?

Sharon Zammit