Assisted reproduction has become the focus of heated discussion at the national two sessions this year.
According to media reports, Liang Yijian, deputy to the National People’s Congress and director of the Department of orthopedics of Chengdu Third People’s Hospital, submitted the proposal on the support of the national medical insurance bureau to include the medical expenses of artificial assisted reproductive technology (IVF) into medical insurance reimbursement to the conference. In Liang Yijian’s view, China is facing the problem of declining fertility rate of women of childbearing age and increasing infertility rate of couples of childbearing age. “All kinds of assisted reproductive technologies have developed rapidly and the technical level has gradually improved, bringing hope to infertile couples.”
It is worth mentioning that after the Beijing Medical Insurance Bureau included 16 assisted reproductive technology projects in the category a reimbursement scope of medical insurance, Sichuan and Shandong also made a positive statement on whether assisted reproductive technology is included in medical insurance.
assisted reproductive technology into medical insurance has attracted much attention
legal egg donation and storage are expected to be further standardized
This year’s government work report proposed to improve the supporting measures of the three child fertility policy, include the care expenses of infants under the age of 3 into the special additional deduction of personal income tax, develop inclusive childcare services and reduce the burden of family rearing.
In his speech at the group meeting, Liu Yingcai, deputy to the National People’s Congress, suggested that the cost of analgesic delivery and assisted reproduction should be included in the medical insurance project to promote the better implementation of the national fertility policy. Zhou Songbo, deputy to the National People’s Congress and President of Fanyang hospital in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, believes that we should encourage the research and development of emerging assisted reproductive technologies and incorporate mature and safe assisted reproductive technologies into medical insurance. Liang Yijian submitted the proposal on the support of the national medical insurance bureau to include the medical expenses of artificial assisted reproductive technology (IVF) into the medical insurance reimbursement to the general assembly.
Assisted reproductive technology has become the first choice for the treatment of infertility. According to statistics, by the end of 2020, there were 536 medical institutions approved to carry out human assisted reproductive technology in China, and 27 medical institutions approved to set up human sperm banks. In recent years, the total number of cycles of various types of human assisted reproductive technologies has exceeded 1 million and the number of babies born has exceeded 300000 every year.
It is worth mentioning that, compared with China’s relatively mature sperm bank, the egg bank has not been established, which also gave birth to the black chain of underground commercial trading of eggs. Now, this situation is expected to accelerate the standardization.
In January 2022, the National Health Commission published the letter on the reply to proposal No. 4201 of the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese people’s Political Consultative Conference (hereinafter referred to as the “reply”), which made it clear that legal ways of egg donation and egg storage should be established and improved. The National Health Commission has started the revision of relevant management measures, basic standards and technical specifications of assisted reproductive technology. In addition, in the reply of Hunan Provincial Health Commission to the proposal No. 0758 of the fourth session of the 12th CPPCC, Hunan Provincial Health Commission made it clear that there is a certain practical need to open up qualified single women with medical indications to freeze eggs.
national roll out is expected to speed up
Sichuan and Shandong “statement”
In 2021, China’s birth rate hit another record low. Encouraging fertility has become the starting point of the current policy.
This year, Beijing became the first city to incorporate assisted reproductive technology into medical insurance. On February 21, the Beijing Medical Insurance Bureau, the National Health Commission and the human resources and Social Security Bureau issued the notice on regulating and adjusting the price of some medical services, uniformly priced 53 assisted reproductive technology projects such as in vitro fertilization and embryo culture, and included 16 of them in class a medical insurance (outpatient only), which will be implemented from March 26, 2022, It is applicable to 15 public assisted reproductive medical institutions designated by basic medical insurance in Beijing. In the future, attention will be paid to whether assisted reproductive technology can be incorporated into medical insurance in more regions.
According to People.Cn Co.Ltd(603000) “leadership message board” on March 8, in response to the message of netizens suggesting “subsidizing assisted reproduction”, the Sichuan Provincial Health Commission replied on March 8: according to the requirements of the notice of the general office of the National Health Commission on printing and distributing the guiding principles of the application planning of human assisted reproductive technology (version 2021), combined with the actual situation of Sichuan Province, The Provincial Health Commission has prepared and issued the application plan of human assisted reproductive technology in Sichuan Province (20212025). During the 14th Five Year Plan period, there were 20 newly planned assisted reproductive institutions in the province. After completion, there were 36 assisted reproductive institutions in the province, serving all regions of the province and meeting the reproductive health needs of the people in the province. This year, a training program for talents in short supply is also being formulated to incorporate reproductive medicine (human assisted reproduction) into the training plan, so as to improve the overall quality and professional level of the team of assisted reproduction talents. Next, it is proposed to learn from the practices of individual provinces and cities and work with relevant departments to actively strive for unified pricing of commonly used assisted reproductive technologies, and bring common assisted reproductive technology projects into the scope of medical insurance reimbursement, so as to further reduce the corresponding burden of the masses.
In response to the suggestion of Shandong netizens on “bringing families that must rely on assisted reproductive technology to have children into medical insurance”, Shandong message handling also replied on March 9 that in the next step, Shandong will earnestly implement the national medical insurance catalogue management policy according to the national unified deployment requirements, based on the positioning of “basic protection”, and on the basis of scientific calculation and full demonstration, Gradually include the diagnosis and treatment projects with mature technology, safety and reliability and controllable cost that can be borne by medical insurance into the scope of medical insurance payment according to procedures, and strive to improve the level of patient protection.
However, a person accepting assisted reproduction told reporters that at present, only assisted reproductive technology is included in the scope of medical insurance. In the process of assisted reproductive services, the cost of drugs is also very high. For example, one dose of ovulation induction needle costs thousands of yuan. A variety of injections should be used in the drainage promotion scheme. The total cost of a treatment cycle is normally between 15000 yuan and 20000 yuan. In the later stage, a large amount of hormones should be supplemented manually, and the cost is also very high.
In the future, can assisted reproductive technology be incorporated into medical insurance nationwide? Will drugs and services related to assisted reproduction be included in medical insurance? In this regard, Chen Yucheng, senior investment consultant of Jufeng investment consulting, told the reporter of Securities Daily that population development is a major event related to the development of the Chinese nation. The inclusion of assisted reproduction in medical insurance must gradually guide the technical safety, maturity and reliability that medical insurance can undertake on the basis of scientific calculation and full demonstration Therapeutic assisted reproductive technology with moderate cost shall be included in the scope of medical insurance payment according to procedures.
