Good Health Care Policy Includes #OHIP4IVF #onpoli

By now my readers know I am community manager for a group called Conceivable Dreams. I believe strongly, just as the World Health Organization does, that infertility is a health issue impacting many areas of society on a human and economic level. I wrote about the reasons why Ohip funding for in vitro fertilization makes sense last September here on thriftymommastips. I have also interviewed many people struggling with infertility here in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. I have spoken with many Ontarian’s who have spent as much as $50,000 trying to build a family through IVF. Currently in Canada, the only province that takes care to build healthy families by funding in vitro fertilization, is Quebec. They have been publicly funding IVF for over two years and, have seen great health care savings. The Health Minister at that time in Quebec, Yves Bolduc who approved the policy was often met on the street with happy families and their babies who referred to him as the father of their child. The multiple birth rate in Quebec has declined drastically as a result of this health care policy. Similar results have been seen in European countries that are funding IVF, and/or offering a tax credit incentive to families. In Australia, it is commonly known that one child in every classroom has been conveived through IVF.

I believe strongly that funding IVF saves money, just as was indicated in the Expert Panel Report called Raising Expectations. I believe that support for all families means helping some build their family through in vitro fertilization. It is a last course of action for conception when many other avenues have already been exhausted by infertile couples. Funding for in vitro fertilization (three rounds SET) saves money in the end. When couples, having to pay for this themselves, remortgage homes and drain their savings, they often transfer multiple embryos and wind up delivering medically fragile multiples that cost the health care system millions of dollars. I have written about this at length over the last eight months. I will continue to write and tell stories of people facing infertility for as long as this takes. Hopefully soon, the Ontario government will take action so people don’t have to make these choices any more.

I am a valued member of Conceivable Dreams and the community manager. I receive compensation for posting. My opinion is 100 % mine.