Seoul city to subsidize IVF, other subfertility treatments

Social Affairs

Published: 09 Mar. 2023, 17:27 Updated: 09 Mar. 2023, 19:05

Seoul city to subsidize IVF, other subfertility treatments

[PIXABAY]

Seoul Metropolitan Government announced plans to support married couples who are having difficulty conceiving children as Korea’s birth rate drops to a new low and the lowest in the OECD.

Fees for in vitro fertilization (IVF) will be covered and future mothers will be subsidized up to 2 million won ($1,510) for freezing their eggs.

The plan addresses the country's low fertility rate, which fell from 0.81 in 2021 to 0.78 last year, according to Statistics Korea. The fertility rate is the average number of births projected for a woman during her reproductive years.

Some 82,000 women struggled from subfertility in Seoul alone and 250,000 nationwide in 2021, according to the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service.

Subfertility is defined by the Mother and Child Health Act as “a state in which a woman is unable to conceive even after one year has elapsed though the couple has a normal sex life in a state in which they do not use birth control.”

The metropolitan government came up with four major policies to be implemented starting next year to support women who are going through subfertility.

Firstly, the city government will provide up to 1.1 million won to all married couples undergoing subfertility treatment.

Previously, only couples with a household income of 180 percent or less of the median income were provided with subsidies.

This meant a two-person household with an income of 6.22 million won a month.

Citing the example of a couple that tried IVF two years ago, Seoul said that while infertility treatment costs have been partly covered by Korean health insurance since 2017, couples have hitherto faced significant financial burdens as individual treatments could cost as much as 2 million won.

Next, the city will cover up to 50 percent of the treatment costs for unmarried women between the age of 30 and 40 who wish to freeze their eggs.

However, this only applies to the very first procedure and is capped at 2 million won.

Additionally, pregnant women who are 35 or older will receive up to one million won in coverage to take birth defect tests as pregnancies at that age have higher risks for certain complications.

Some 15,000 pregnant women are over the age of 35 in Seoul only.

Lastly, the city will reduce the burden of families with twins, triplets or more, allowing complimentary registration of their children's health insurance.

The rising number of future mothers getting treatment for subfertility, such as so-called test tube babies, is leading to more multiple births.

One out of 10 newborn babies in Korea were born after infertility treatments last year, while a total of 2,210 twins and 85 triplets were born in Seoul.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon hears from people related to the issue of subfertility, including married couples struggling with subfertility and those planning to freeze their eggs, on Wednesday. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

The city government plans to inject approximately 212.3 billion won over the course of four years from 2023 to 2026 to support future mothers struggling with subfertility.

“I will put in every possible resource to solve the issue of low fertility,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday after meeting with people related to the subfertility issue, including married couples going through subfertility.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]