Infertility Awareness Week: How B.C.'s proposed IVF funding is delaying some treatments

It’s National Infertility Awareness week, which brings attention to a medical condition that impacts one-in-six adults in B.C.

As people across the country mark the week, doctors are encouraging conversation to decrease shame and stigma.

With high fertility treatment costs, patients are struggling to make ends meet to afford having a child.

It can cost anywhere from $18,000 to $20,000 for one round of in vitro fertilization, or IVF, which is a medical procedure that involves retrieving egg and sperm before combining the two in a lab and transferring the fertilized embyro to a uterus.

The B.C. government’s 2024 budget outlined the province’s plan to launch a $68 million IVF program, to fund one round of treatment and medication starting in spring 2025.

Dr. Caitlin Dunne, a fertility specialist at the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine, says the funding announcement is validating for patients struggling with infertility, but there are few details on what exactly is covered.

“The details on how the funding is going to be implemented are still being worked out, but we hope it will be a collaborative process,” explains Dr. Dunne.

She estimates there were over 3,000 IVF cycles in B.C. alone last year and looking at other provinces who have already covered fertility treatments, she is concerned the provincial money budgeted will not go far enough to cover the high demand.

“We know in Ontario and Quebec when the funding went in place, the use of IVF went up dramatically like 200 to 300 per cent, so we expect the same here.”

The lack of current funding has some patients holding off on receiving treatments until they can garner financial support next spring. But fertility specialists say that carries risk, especially for older women.

“Couples start to delay waiting for the funds, but I encourage people to just move on, especially the later reproductive age,” says Dr. Ghadeer Akbar, fertility specialist at Grace Fertility in Vancouver.

Dr. Akbar adds she received her medical training at McGill University in Montreal and recalls the impact it had on fertility patients there.

“Back in Montreal it is covered already, we had the surge in patients but that opened another angle. People started to delay more until the funding started.”

Who is eligible?

Fertility specialists say they have questions around the funding model and are unable to properly educate their patients, because they don’t know what to expect.

“It can affect the outcome in some cases, so I am trying to encourage people (not to wait) because we don’t know,” explains Dr. Akbar.

She says it is encouraging that people are talking about it more since the announcement “whether it’s referrals from general practitoners or patients coming in themselves.”

The older the reproductive age, the lower the outcome.

“Above the age of 30 to 32, we may expect more than one round, sometimes even a third,” says Dr. Akbar.

She also hopes that this is a starting point and that "fertility preservation" treatments should also be covered, such as egg or embryo freezing.

“We have some of the younger reproductive age coming and asking about these treatments, so if it is covered we are not sure yet but the cycle roughly goes around $9,000 not including medications.”

Dr. Dunne says that waiting period could be make or break for having a child.

“Especially for women over 35, waiting six months or 12 months can make a material difference in the success rate and for that reason, I don’t think a lot of people in that situation are going to want to wait for the funding.”

'Worst club to be a part of'

Suzette Newton is one of those women. She has endomitriosis and struggled for years to concieve. After three rounds of intro-uterine insemination that were unsuccessful, she moved on to IVF at 31 years old.

She decided to lean on family for financial support to be able to do IVF treatments.

“We were waiting for the public funding, but then family members helped us do it privately and it’s not something we would have been able to pay for out of pocket if we didn’t get help.”

She says it is frustrating that having a child, in some cases, is dependent on the amount of money you have.

“It’s the worst club to be a part of with the best members. Finding a community was really helpful, even the knowledge on what to expect with all the medications and the emotional, physical, and financial toll of fertility treatment,” says Newton.

She says it’s easy to lose sight of hope, especially with the stigma and shame surrounding infertility, but the community was what got her through.

“Each person that is more open about it, helps with that stigma because infertility is much more common than I think people realize.”