Quebec IVF funding: Gaétan Barrette clarifies payouts for existing patients
IVF patients who started treatment before Nov. 11 will be reimbursed, health minister now says
Quebec's Liberal government, under fire for the confusion around its ending of the province's publicly funded IVF program, now says it will pay for treatments for anyone who consulted a fertility doctor before Nov. 11.
At the time the law was passed, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette said a woman who had purchased her medication before Nov. 11 and had a receipt to prove it would still have the procedure covered. If the medication hadn't been paid for, she and her partner would have to pay for the entire procedure themselves, at a cost of about $10,000.
Dreams dashed
That meant for many couples, the dream of having a child came down to the date on a sales receipt, said CAQ health critic François Paradis.
A case in point is Marie-Claude Morency, currently undergoing IVF treatment.
She has a prescription, dated Nov. 2.
Last Friday, she and her husband were informed by their clinic that if they hadn't bought their medication yet, they would have to pay for the entire procedure.
"It was a disaster for me and my husband," said Morency. "It's the end of my world, my dream. I have to ask my husband to make a choice between putting money down on our home or on my dream to have a baby. It's very sad for us."
Calls forwarded to Health Ministry
The Parti Québécois and Coalition Avenir Québec called the government "uncompassionate" and said the way the government handled the transition away from fully funded IVF was "flawed."
Paradis said he received calls and emails from people whose IVF date was set and who had the prescription in hand but hadn't yet bought the medication.
As well, many of the people staffing the province's information line have been unable to answer questions about the program changes, he said, adding those calls were being forwarded to a Ministry of Health voicemail box.
Barrette revises transition plan
Late Thursday, Barrette's office issued a news release to clarify the criteria for receiving payments for IVF treatment from the Quebec government's health insurance agency, RAMQ, during the period of transition period.
Barrette now says anyone who consulted a fertility specialist or a obstetrician-gynecologist before Nov. 11 with the intention of undergoing IVF will have a cycle of IVF covered, providing the specialist billed RAMQ for that initial consultation prior to Nov. 11.
That means anyone who, like Marie-Claude Morency, had a prescription for IVF-related drugs but hadn't yet filled it, will be covered for that cycle of treatment.
Calls for flexibility
Opposition health critics had not yet responded to Barrette's latest statement by Thursday evening.
Earlier in the day, both Paradis and PQ health critic Diane Lamarre had called on the health minister to extend the transition period and to show more flexibility.
Up until last week, Quebec paid for three full IVF attempts. During the consultation stage for Bill 20, the PQ fought to persuade the government to continue to fund one cycle of IVF, as Ontario now does.
"The situations we see most often since Nov. 10 are totally chaotic, improvised and show a lack of respect for couples," said Lamarre at a joint news conference with her CAQ counterpart earlier Thursday.