 |
 |
 |
 Concern
 Treatment
Pregnancy
Experiences
Concern
|
 |
Financial Issues
Until recently, the financial costs of
infertility treatment were not a great burden on national
healthcare systems because only a limited range of treatments was
available. However, two key factors have now placed considerable
financial pressures on these healthcare systems:
- The advent of Assisted Reproductive
Technology (ART), which has made it possible for many more
subfertile couples to be treated.
- People's raised expectations and perceptions
(especially in the developed world) that they have a 'right' to
have children.
Since most insurance companies and other
private healthcare payers put strict financial limits on
infertility treatments, in countries in which healthcare provision
is privatised access to infertility treatment depends mainly upon
the couple's ability to pay.
In those countries where there is a nationalised
healthcare system or a state insurance scheme, the advent of ART
has caused real dilemmas for those trying to manage allocation of
limited healthcare budgets. The advent of treatments such as IVF
and ICSI in itself increases the demand for infertility treatment,
as couples who previously thought they could not be helped now seek
to fulfil their desire to have a child. Most cities in Europe and
the rest of the developed world now have sophisticated, private
infertility clinics.
The problem remains for governments and national healthcare systems
of what to do with those who cannot pay:
- If all less fortunate couples are treated
properly by a national health system, then better off couples (who
pay towards the national system through their taxes) will see no
reason why they should pay for private treatment.
- On the other hand, if the access of the less
fortunate couple's treatment is limited by strict age limits and
long waiting lists, then the healthcare system risks criticism of
'one form of treatment for the poor and another for the
rich'.
In addition, the cost of infertility treatment
has to be balanced against the demands of technological and
therapeutic advances in other fields of medicine.
None of these problems has yet been solved and hence the provision
of infertility treatment at public expense varies
greatly from country to country, and even from region
to region within countries. Some health authorities have made a
blatant decision not to fund infertility treatment: this means that
access to treatment may be determined by where the patient lives.
In other cases, treatment is cash limited: this means that if
infertility is diagnosed after a certain point in the financial
year, the couple may have to wait for the new budget before they
can be seen.
|
|
 |
|
|
Home
Merck Serono
