Today, an Ontario Panel recommended that the Provincial health care system cover infertility treatments. Currently, almost all infertility treatments are paid for out of the patient’s pocket. And it can be a hefty fee. However, judging from the feedback I’ve been hearing, lots of people are pretty vocal about this issue. It’s too expensive! Why should I pay for someone else’s choices? It’s an elective procedure! Wah wah wah!
And I’m here to say: Shut it.
Yes. Infertility treatments are expensive. A round of IVF at the Ottawa Fertility Clinic starts at $6,000 and easily goes up from there. Paying for it out of the public health care system would be expensive.
And I bet the people who are whining about how expensive it is and how our health care system can’t afford it are the same people who go to the emergency room to get antibiotics for the flu. I bet one visit to the ER costs the health care system hundreds if not thousands of dollars, depending on what you’re visiting the ER for. But because we don’t pay the bills, we don’t notice. But trust me: everything we do in the health care system is expensive. Know that infertility treatment is no more or less expensive than anything else. You really want to save the health care system some money? Lose 10 pounds, quit smoking and eat more vegetables. Then come talk to me.
Yes. Having children is a personal, life choice, especially for couples who very specifically pursue fertility treatments instead of getting it done the easy way by humping in the back seat of their parents’ chevy. Why should we fund things that are lifestyle choices?
And while we’re at it, if we’re only going to treat conditions that aren’t “lifestyle choices”, then the next douchebag who gets hammered and gets in to his car and joyrides his ass right into a telephone pole shouldn’t get treated under the health care system either. The next woman who decides to skydive and has a faulty parachute and gets pulverized into the ground shouldn’t get treated under the health care system either.
Yes. It’s “elective”. Nobody “has” to have a child.
And there are hundreds of “elective” procedures, procedures that aren’t life threatening or medically “necessary” carried out every day that the province pays for. Exploratory surgeries. Knee repair. The list goes on. Should we force all elective procedures to pay out of pocket?
The truth is, infertility is a medical condition where your body is not working the way it is supposed to work. Just like when your hip wears out and you need a new one. Just like when your heart has a defect and requires a transplant. Just like when your brain blows a blood vessel and you need it repaired. Just like a thousand other medical conditions where something isn’t working the way it is supposed to work - but because it involves children, and women’s reproduction, and all kinds of things traditionally deemed unimportant, people think it isn’t worthy of being paid for by the public health care system.
The bald truth is, the couples who are pursuing infertility treatments are the ones we *want* to be parents in our society. These are the couples who know they want children - they’re doing everything they can to have one. These are the couples who have the money to raise children - they’re paying out the nose to have one. These are the couples whose marriages can take stress and strain - there’s nothing more stressful than infertility. These are the couples who will make good parents. And we should be treating them fairly, not bankrupting them by forcing them to mortgage their lives just to achieve the most basic of human accomplishments: having a family.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Shannon, all I have to say is Thank You!
Awesome rant - so true and so well said!
Good points, especially "lose weight, quit smoking and eat more veggies". Children are not economic considerations - though if they were, there should be more money assigned to the production and rearing of the future taxpayers. I'd add also that same-sex couples should also have the right to conceive free-of-charge. It takes a village to raise a child and the village should be contributing to conception, if required.
Thanks Shannon - you gave it a fresh perspective and it really got me thinking.
I completely agree and I could spend all day here listing all of the other things that our health care system pays for that it shouldn't if it isn't going to pay for infertility treatments.
I also agree with Mom On The Go that same sex couples should have the same right to conceive free of charge.
Hear Hear!
This is the most eloquent, persuasive and well laid out argument I have read anywhere on this subject. Thank you. I will be quoting you.
From one Shannon to another, snaps! Thanks for writing that. A friend directed me to your post and it's so refreshing to actually have someone see this in a positive light as opposed to those who think we infertiles are all selfish pigs who want to bankrupt the health care system. Sigh.
And as a note, the report that came out would also extend the rights to same sex couples and women who desire to be single mothers. Those report writers actually got it right!
spoken like a survivor!
If we're going to pay for people not to have children via things like vasectomies or tubal ligation why on earth *wouldn't* we pay for people to have fertility treatments?
Yes. Let's not help the people who really want children. Because that makes so. much. sense. /endsarcasm
As a woman who needed fertility treatment in order to conceive my five month old son, I could not agree more. After 4 years, my husband and I spent a significant amount of money, not to mention the stress/anxiety, to be successful. Some women have no other option, but to conceive children this way. Not just anyone can go through what we did, financially and emotionally! SO, thank you for your article, from the bottom of my heart!
I definitely think healthcare coverage should extend to fertility treatments. And I don't think that longterm, the costs would be particularly significant when compared to the wide range of other services covered. Not to mention the fact that covered fertility treatments could lead to fewer multiple births as it would eliminate some of the reasons people do more desperate things - and multiple births, especially higher order ones, but even twins, cost a lot more than fertility treatments.
Well said (as always). Thanks Shannon.
Thank you. You said everything exactly like it is. Hopefully the politicians that make the decisions will come to their senses sooner rather than later.