ADF’s fertility treatment blowout: taxpayers fork out millions
CORY Bernardi has called for the ADF to cease funding for fertility treatments, after it was revealed that taxpayers forked out almost $12 million on IVF for Defence Force personnel.
Pregnancy
Don't miss out on the headlines from Pregnancy. Followed categories will be added to My News.
EXCLUSIVE
TAXPAYERS have forked out almost $12 million on fertility treatments, including IVF, for Defence force personnel over the past five years.
The Australian Defence Force covers the Medicare rebate plus the gap for “assisted reproductive technology services” for personnel.
In addition to IVF, these services also include fertility medication, surrogacy and cryopreservation — where eggs, sperm and reproductive tissue can be preserved for later IVF.
This means ADF employees don’t have to pay the out-of-pocket costs that average Australians pay which can be up to $4600 for treatments such as IVF.
PAINFUL STRUGGLE: Desperate couples slugged by soaring IVF prices
The cost of fertility treatments is part of a massive blowout in overall healthcare expenses for Defence personnel, which have more than doubled in 10 years to $444 million in 2017.
Defence Minister Marise Payne defended the full healthcare coverage ADF members receive as a condition of their service, in lieu of being covered by Medicare.
“People are the ADF’s most important asset and Defence is expected to, and does, invest accordingly and appropriately in the health and wellbeing of the men and women of the ADF,” she said.
“Healthcare investment is critical to both supporting our ADF members and maintaining Defence’s overall capability.”
The 126 per cent rise in health expenses — up from $196.5 million in 2007 — has far outstripped the increase in Defence personnel, which rose only 14 per cent over the same period.
Defence has paid for treatments for about 2800 servicemen and women to help them have children since November 2012, costing the ADF about $11.7 million in just over five years.
A Department of Defence spokesman told News Corp the average cost for treatments over the period was $4200.
The extent of the costs has prompted Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi — an outspoken critic of Defence funding sex-change surgeries for personnel — to call for the ADF to cease funding for fertility treatments.
“Defence funding decisions should be about the security of the nation,” Senator Bernardi told News Corp.
“It’s not a ‘pay my medical bills’ agency,” he said.
The Senator said the ADF needed to be “freed from the constraints of political correctness”.
Under their contract, ADF personnel get full coverage for all treatments available on the Medicare Benefits Schedule, such as dental or mental health costs.
It also means they get full coverage for treatments such as In Vitro Fertilisation or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection where male infertility is a factor.
An IVF cycle can cost anywhere from $3110 to $9710 across Australia, while an ICSI cycle can cost more than $10,000.
Out-of-pocket costs for IVF for the average Australian can be up to $4600, with Medicare rebates covering $3110 for the first cycle and $2909 for each subsequent cycle in a year.
Service providers estimate out-of-pocket costs for ICSI to be about the same.
A Defence spokesman said decisions regarding the level of health care provided by the ADF were guided by what was available under Medicare to “ensure ADF members can access the same services as the general community”.
“In line with Medicare, Defence only funds assisted reproductive technology services where it is the clinically appropriate response to medical infertility,” he said.
“Surrogacy and infertility due to non-clinical reasons are not covered.”
He said the ADF had provided access to assisted reproductive services since 1992.
Minister Payne attributed the overall increase in Defence health expenses to improved access for patients to high quality healthcare, the end of high operational period, including health services being provided to international deployments, and annual indexation.
She also said Defence did not have a central data collection system before 2012 so the costs prior to then could not be compared like to like with current costs.
“Defence regularly reviews its healthcare arrangements to ensure both value for money and the highest level of care for members,” she said.
The Minister said the ADF had achieved savings of more than $35 million since October 2012 and savings were expected to reach more than $50 million by mid-2019.
Labor’s Veterans Affairs spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth said Defence personnel were a critical element of Australia’s national security and supporting their wellbeing would only maximise our capability.
Defence health funding came under the spotlight last year when Freedom of Information documents revealed the ADF had paid for 27 members to receive treatment for gender dysphoria and for 17 individuals to have sex-change surgery, with the total cost reaching $1,052,330.