Did you know my father was born in Alberta? Sure was. Did you know I was also born in Alberta? Yup. Up in Cold Lake on the military air base there – my birth certificate says ‘Medley’ but it’s really CFB Cold Lake. Strange for a place to have two names like that. We lived in Alberta for a few years before bouncing around the country a bit and then, we landed back in Cold Lake for another stint. I lived there from ages 13 – 16, moving away for my grade 12 year. Once that year was up I found myself Alberta bound once more to take post secondary in Edmonton. We moved again out of province for a few years and just like a boomerang, back we came. Now we’re just outside Calgary. I’ve moved a lot in my life and even though I’ve lived on both coasts of this Canadian country I have spent the most time right here in Alberta. Funny now that I think about it. I do feel tied to this place. We have family history here. My ancestors are buried here. There’s a lake named after my father’s family – Ewing Lake. It’s just outside of Stettler.
Growing up here was good. As good as it can be, even though we endure snow and cold in the winters. There were always lots of programs for kids and being outside in the summertime here is beautiful (aside from the mosquitoes). Alberta is a family oriented province and I’m proud to be raising my family here. I often take for granted all that we have here for families – coming up is family day in fact. A holiday where we can just spend time with each other. There’s no gift giving or fireworks or picnics to worry about. It’s just nice quiet time together.
Having said all that, it just doesn’t seem right that the cost of IVF prohibits many people from starting their families here in Alberta. Many people just don’t have the funds for treatment and those that do scrape up the money tend to implant more than one embryo which results in twin, triplet or even larger pregnancies. These babies need lots of care and our province’s health care system pays the price. Watch this video to hear more from Albertan families dealing with infertility and
sign the petition for public funding of IVF treatment.
I know things work a bit differently here in the states, but I think it’s pretty pricey here, too – and it should be completely covered by the insurance as far as I’m concerned.
I agree Heather, it is pricy for people to afford IVF. However, I’m just not sure what the right answer is here. Someone has to cover the cost, and is it fair to pass that down to the province which is then passed on to us? Would love to here other people’s thoughts on this.
This is a good point and that was my first reaction too – to say that tax payers shouldn’t bear the load of IVF funding in Alberta. But parents trying to stretch their dollar often implant more than one embryo which results in high risk pregnancies and premature babies who need hospital care. These costs can be avoided if money is taken out of the picture and parents are only implanting one embryo at a time. If IVF funding is covered by the province it’s estimated that the health care system will actually save 78 million dollars over 5 years. That is more than enough reason for the province to fund IVF treatments.
Well said, Heather. Also it’s universal health care, so who draws the line at stating infertility isn’t a health care issue. But in fact the WHO has stated infertility is a health care issue. The arguments are clear. It’s the right thing to do and it saves money in health care dollars when we don’t have the number of multiples born that we do currently. Also one can argue that it’s not really fair to women who end up jeopardizing their physical health implanting more embryos. To me the choice is clear.
It may seem like the right thing to do but I am not sure having government in charge of fertility is a good idea. If government can say yes these people can have a baby what’s to stop them from saying no lets not fund these people. I think the answer is individuals. If you really want to help couples that want to have babies then you could raise money for them. Find a couple that wants to start a family and sponsor them. We as a people need to stop going to government for the answers to problems. We as individuals need to solve the problems.
But they are already not funding anyone. So I don’t see the difference. At least if they take on part of funding it will help some people instead of no people. Besides, it’s already tied to the government because of how our healthcare system works. So we are paying for it already via taxes.