The Ontario government has decided after all to put an age restriction on a $50-million program to fund in-vitro fertilization — two days after the National Post revealed the province was planning to reject expert advice and open up the service to all women, regardless of their age.
Eric Hoskins, the health minister, announced the long-awaited IVF program Thursday, soon to become the only one of its kind in Canada. He said the fertility treatment would be available solely to patients 42 and younger — as an expert committee had earlier urged.
In a presentation to the Ontario Medical Association in mid-August, however, ministry officials said anyone with a medicare card would be eligible, “regardless of age, sex, gender, sexual orientation” or other factors.
Critics said that could open the door to indiscriminate use of the service by women with little chance of becoming pregnant.
The announcement was supposed to occur Wednesday but was delayed a day as the province continued talks with doctors and others in the field, sources say.
Hoskins did not explain the apparent about-face Thursday, but said the government received advice from “a number of directions” before making a decision.
“Once you pass the age of 43 the likelihood of success drops significantly,” he said at a carefully planned media event at a Toronto day-care centre, as IVF-born toddlers played nearby. “We wanted to make sure that we got this right.”
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In most of Canada, patients pay out of pocket for the procedure, which can cost about $10,000 per round. Eggs and sperm are fertilized in a lab, the resulting embryos “transferred” into the womb.
Ontario will add $50 million a year to the $20 million it already spends on “assisted reproduction,” enough to fund one round of in-vitro for thousands of people — both with medical reproductive problems and “social infertility,” such as being in a same-sex relationship.
Quebec was the first province to publicly fund the service, but is winding down its program after demand and costs soared much higher than expected.
The head of a patients’ group that has been lobbying hard for provincial funding said Ontario’s program could be a model for the rest of Canada.
“I think it’s incredibly helpful,” said Sandra Alsaffawi-David of Conceivable Dreams. “I think we can absolutely be a shining example to the rest of the provinces.”
National Post
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