IVF super raid: Parenthood is calling for partners to pay half

Thousands of Australian women are raiding their super to have a baby but, experts warn, there’s a huge financial impact. Have your say.

Almost 10,000 women have raided their superannuation to have a baby with a leading parents’ group calling on rule changes to allow partners to access their nest eggs to help pay.

The number of women applying to access their superannuation early for IVF has surged by 41 per cent since 2018-19, with Australian Taxation Office data showing 9,990 women applied to access their retirement savings for IVF treatment over past four years.

Of those, 9,900 were granted access.

Some women are also being forced to pull out more than the cost of the treatment because they end paying for fees charged by brokers who help them access their superannuation. And when money is withdrawn from superannuation it is treated as income and it gets taxed at a higher rate.

Pictures from NSW mother Marnie Pollock after becoming pregnant through IVF.

The Parenthood’s Georgie Dent said the statistics were alarming and further entrenched women’s economic disadvantage.

Ms Dent said partners should have to pay half the bill from their own superannuation.

“It seems to me that consideration should be given to how in circumstances where it is determined that a mother can access super for IVF services, then there should be some ability to split that in circumstances where there is a partner,” Ms Dent said.

“We actually need to get comfortable with the fact that parents – not women – have children and that raising children caring for children is a joint endeavour.

“Women who access super earlier, they’re missing out on the compounding interest but then they’re also paying the penalty in terms of having to pay tax on that and then cover brokerage,” she said.

Treasury data shows a woman’s income drops on average 55 per cent for the first five years after having a baby, even when she was a higher income earner than her partner, Ms Dent said.

To access their superannuation women must provide two medical reports to prove they need the money and meet certain criteria to have money released on compassionate grounds.

IVF procedures are commonly applied for on the grounds of alleviating acute or chronic mental illness, which is reflective of the extreme ongoing distress that fertility issues can cause.

Another option is to consider a personal loan to pay fees upfront, some of the loan can be quickly repaid once you qualify for the Medicare Safety Net and get back your Medicare rebates.

Or, consider a bulk billing service or public hospital clinic where costs are lower.

The cost of IVF is surging as a large number of Australia’s IVF providers are taken over by private equity firms focused on the profit they can make.

Bulk billing provider Adora was taken over this year over by private equity firm Liverpool Partners which also bought Genea. Adora which used to bulk bill recently hiked its fees by $450.

Earlier this year Australian private equity firm BHG Capital acquired Virtus Health’s 50 clinics including IVF Australia, Queensland Fertility Group, Melbourne IVF, Tas IVF, The Fertility Centre and Hunter IVF.

The Australian Taxation Office said sometimes Compassionate Release of Super applications are lodged on behalf of a dependant, who would in most cases be a spouse applying to access their super to pay for the IVF services of their partner.

“Of the 9,900 individuals who were approved to access their super for IVF treatment expenses since 2018-19, around 2,480 (around 25%) were approved for IVF expenses on behalf of a dependant,” the Tax Office said.