Ontario’s IVF Funding Program
It’s a hopeful and Merry Christmas for Ontario infertility patients. Ontario’s promise to create an IVF funding program became reality this week with the announcement that 50 clinics throughout Ontario will now be offering a funded IVF (in vitro fertilization) cycle. That’s a Happy Holiday announcement for the many infertility patients in Ontario who have been struggling to access affordable infertility treatment necessary to help them start a family.
It’s been several long years since a group of Ontario infertility patients, called Conceivable Dreams, started advocating for reinstatement of IVF funding. With Ontario’s IVF funding program there are now four provinces that offer some contribution to the cost of infertility treatment.
Ontario will now fund IVF and artificial insemination for couples and individuals who need help to conceive. That’s powerful news for the thousands of infertility patients in Ontario. It brings hope to other provinces throughout Canada watching this groundbreaking program to see how it evolves. The Ontario government announced several months ago that they would find IVF and unlimited rounds of artificial insemination. They will not discriminate according to sexual orientation, gender discrimination or family status.
In London two clinics will offer IVF funding.
In 2014 IVF funding was promised in the provincial budget.
A few key facts:
This is expected to help 5,000 patients a year.
Women under 43 are eligible.
There are 50 clinics that are able to offer a funded IVF round.
The province will fund one cycle of in vitro per patient per lifetime for eligible people.
1 in 6 Canadian couples suffer from infertility.
Not everyone with infertility requires IVF.
Each IVF (in-vitro fertilization) treatment costs an average of $12,000 per cycle.
In the last decade, the national birth rate has declined 25%.
For more information you can read this post about the clinics offering funded treatment.
Happy Holidays to all the infertility advocates who helped make this happen and to the MPPs who supported creating an IVF funding program in Ontario.
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