The phone has been ringing off the hook at the Orillia Fertility Associates since the province announced that starting Tuesday, Ontario women can access government-funded fertility treatments at 50 clinics.
Registered Nurse Coordinator Donna Plue says their clinic offers artificial insemination and cycle monitoring, a cost that runs between 400 and 600-dollars, and the government coverage will be unlimited.
In the case of invitro fertilization, the clinic will send people to Toronto for the procedure and Orillia will do the cycle monitoring.
With IVF, Ontario will fund one cycle per patient, per lifetime, for women under the age of 43 who meet certain criteria.
While patients will still be on the hook for their medication, a cost of between $2,500 and $4,000 — the IVF procedure is on the government’s tab, and that’s a minimum $8,000.
Plue says the government-funded fertility treatment is simply amazing because a lot of people couldn’t afford the procedure, even just artificial insemination.
She says this is going to help many people hopefully to conceive.
The other clinic locally is the Barrie Fertility Centre.
The government says 5,000 people will benefit from the program.
It’s estimated one in six Ontario couples is affected by infertility.
Fertility services: http://health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/ivf/pub_clinics.aspx
IVG program details: http://health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/ivf/
