It’s official in Quebec infertility is a disease that will be covered under the health care system there and the the government will start funding IVF procedures. This will make Quebec the mecca for health care coverage of in vitro fertilization in comparison to any where else in the world. This is pretty big news in the world of IVF and what is considered standard practice in the health care system of not covering ivf procedures.

As you can probably imagine there is a lot of debate on both sides of the political fence for this sweeping change in favor of health care covering IVF treatments. Especially when you consider that this is still a very expensive procedure which still averages $7k to $15k for each attempt so it’s not like the medical professionals in Quebec have found a cheaper way of doing an ivf treatment.

Based on the information that I have read the health care system in Quebec is not exactly a well oiled machine in terms of operating costs. They are considered to be struggling at best in terms of comparison to world standards so the question is why take on the financial burden of an expensive procedure like in vitro fertilization?

On the one hand I applaud them for recognizing that infertility is a disease that effects millions of people all over the world and needs to be addressed in the health care system. The broad strokes of this sweeping change to start funding ivf procedures by a system that is already financially strapped as it is and could quite possibly do more damage to the health care system than good.

Granted this is just one province in the country of Canada but there are others that are debating similar changes and you know that the rest of the world is watching what happens here as it may be setting the table for a large shift in the perception of infertility and how governments and health care systems are going to look at covering or not covering in vitro fertilization procedures in the future.

Here is a link to the story that can give you a lot more insight as to what is going on with the health care system in Quebec and how the government is making big changes to perception of infertility and IVF treatments. I would advise that you read the comments section of that article as there are a lot of valid arguments both pros and cons as to why these changes have happened and what it will mean for the future of their health care system. As always make sure you pass this information on to those that you know are fighting infertility as the more information we have the better we can all fight…. don’t let IF win!