By Sandra O'Malley
November 29, 2006 08:16pm
Labor described it as a community victory against a cruel plan by the health minister.
HEALTH Minister Tony Abbott has backed away from any plans to restrict women's access to taxpayer-funded IVF on the basis of their age
Labor described it as a community victory against a cruel plan by the health minister.
A year and a half after commissioning an IVF review and nine months after receiving the report, Mr Abbott today signalled the Government would not restrict the procedure based on a woman's age or number of treatments.
Concerned about the growing cost of IVF, also known as assisted reproductive technology (ART), the Government – ahead of last year's Budget – had been considering caps on procedures.
Mr Abbott indicated at the time that he believed there was a limit on the amount of money that should be spent on such non-essential procedures.
The Government was thought to be considering reducing the number of Medicare-funded treatments to three a year for women aged under 42 and capping the number of treatments for women aged over 42 to three cycles in total.
Doctors condemned any moves to change the status quo, which also attracted criticism from elements within the Coalition backbench.
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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20843580-5005961,00.html
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