Victorians call on the state government for rebate for fertility services, amid boom in demand
They want a system like the one introduced by the New South Wales Government last year, which compensates patients facing IVF bills costing tens of thousands of dollars.
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00:00 Mildura mother Jo Castle loves being a parent.
00:05 I used to think about things like what would I do for school lunches and things like that,
00:09 you know, and what things could we play and what holidays we could take and that sort of thing.
00:13 She's one of a booming number of Victorians using IVF to start a family,
00:17 with 1,600 people receiving sperm donations in the 2021-22 financial year,
00:24 up 8% from the year before.
00:27 In recent years there's just been more and more women becoming aware of that
00:30 and actively making a choice to be parents.
00:33 It's a difficult process, but in Victoria it's also expensive.
00:38 Probably all up, say, $60,000 to $80,000 you're looking at.
00:41 Just kilometres away from Mildura, across the Murray River in New South Wales,
00:46 the cost of IVF is thousands of dollars cheaper, due to a rebate not available in Victoria.
00:52 Anything that can reduce costs for families that make treatment more accessible is really important.
00:57 Anything that helps couples keep going to succeed in the goal of having a baby is really important.
01:03 Those who can afford IVF are struggling on a second front,
01:07 with the demand for sperm outstripping supply across the state.
01:11 We have about 300 couples on our waiting list at the moment waiting for sperm,
01:17 and we get maybe one sperm donor every few months.
01:22 And a lack of supply means a lack of choice.
01:25 In a small market, finding the right donor can be difficult for hopeful parents like Jo Castle.
01:31 If there's not enough people donating, there's not enough choice for you to be able to say,
01:34 'OK, that's the right person for me.'
01:37 She is encouraging potential sperm donors to consider it,
01:40 and says JASPA is proof of the joy it can bring.
01:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]