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An expert advisory panel is urging Ontario to exclude the severely obese and anyone over 42 from its long-delayed plan to fund in-vitro fertilization treatment, soon to become the only program of its kind in Canada.
The government-appointed advisory group recommended coverage be offered solely to patients who meet well-defined criteria, to avoid the kind of cost overruns that doomed a similar plan in Quebec, a source familiar with the panel’s work said.
Apart from age and weight limits, the advisory committee laid out various other reproductive-health requirements to ensure odds are relatively high someone can get pregnant through IVF, the source said.
The province had already stipulated, however, that the program would extend to “social infertility”: same-sex couples and other members of the LGBT community who need help having children for non-medical reasons.
Related on the SLP
Promised more than 17 months ago for rollout in 2015, the policy is a rare expansion of medicare that is sure to be watched closely by other provinces.
Most in-vitro treatment now is paid for out-of-pocket by patients in private clinics.
Quebec started funding IVF in 2010 but, after costs more than doubled to $70 million annually, decided last year to all but end the coverage. That fact was front and centre as the advisory panel of doctors and patient representatives met earlier this year.
Read full, original post: As Ontario set to roll out IVF program, panel urges those older than 42, severely obese to be excluded
